Storm pummels Sonoma Valley

Batten down the hatches, indeed.

The Sonoma Valley got a soaking Thursday, as a massive Gulf of Alaska weather system pounded the Bay Area. Multiple road closures, fallen trees and sewage overflows made for a watery obstacle course for many Sonoma Valley residents.

Parts of the county reported as much as 5 inches of rain by late morning, with winds upward of 50 mph. By mid-morning every county in the Bay Area had issued flash-flood warnings.

The storm made for a nightmarish commute for those who took to the roads – and the Sonoma County Transportation and Public Works Department had its hands full with several road closures into and around Sonoma. Highway 121 was closed from Sears Point all the way into Schellville at the Highway 12 intersection. Watmaugh Road was closed due to flooding, and a tree was reported down at East Watmaugh and Fifth Street East. Public Works also reported a mud slide on Grove Street in Boyes Hot Springs that spanned half the road.

A flash-flood warning was issued for Sonoma Creek, which had risen to 23 feet at around noon – more than double where it stood the previous day, according to the Sonoma Ecology Center, which monitors the creek. Discharge from the creek peaked at a walloping 8,330 cubic feet per second at around 10:45 a.m., said SEC director Richard Dale. As much flow as that is, Dale said it still falls short of the New Year’s storm at the beginning of 2006 when Sonoma Creek discharge levels topped 14,000 cubic feet per second.

“I definitely felt that anyone who opposed the development was being demonized.”

Despite the hairy conditions, the Sonoma Valley Unified School District kept the classroom doors open. District Superintendent Louann Carlomagno reported “a little” flooding in the theater at Sonoma Valley High School, and sewer problems at Flowery Elementary School; portable toilets were being routed to Flowery for the day. While many school districts in the Bay Area closed Thursday – Novato Unified announced it was closing Friday, as well – Carlomagno says she’s glad SVUSD kept singing the ABC’s.

“The kids are safe warm and dry, and we think this is the best place for them right at the moment,” said Carlomagno. “And we were also thinking about some of the working parents who don’t have an option for the kids to stay home.”

The district, however, did give parents the option of keeping their children home from school if they so chose, saying it would be recorded as an “excused absence.”

Flowery Elementary will be closed on Friday, Dec. 12, as the district deals with the sewer problem; all other schools in the district will be open.

Brad Sherwood, from the Sonoma County Water Agency, reported several sewage overflows at such locations as Rancho Vista Mobile Home Park on Highway 12, Valletti Road, near Casabella Drive, Fourth Street at East Spain, and another at 18715 Sonoma Highway, near Meadowbrook Avenue.

Water Agency Director Susan Gorin said district staff is responding to the overflows as quickly as possible.

“Our collection system is more than 50 years old and aging,” said Gorin. “Replacing older pipes has helped reduce overflows, but more must be done.”

While Sonoma Valley took its share of the hammering winds and rain, the area’s most pressing concerns appeared to be in West County, according to Public Works officials, where PG&E outages were prevalent and the rising Russian River waters had many outlying communities on evacuation alert.

County officials are reminding folks to play it safe during the storm. “Drivers should never cross flooded roadways. Cars can be swept away, and present a significant risk to pedestrians,” according to a county safety update. “Watch roads for collapsed pavement, mud, fallen rocks, and other indications of possible debris flows.”