‘Definite flooding concerns’ in Sonoma County from atmospheric river

Hang onto your hats and clear your gutters.

The coming atmospheric river, a large stream of moisture from the coast of East Asia, is set to drop 6 to 7 inches of rain on Sonoma County from Saturday to Monday, according to a National Weather Service meteorologist.

The heaviest rainfall, with a potential for landslides and urban area flooding, is forecast for Sunday afternoon as the storm, tropical and subtropical in nature, makes its most significant impact on Northern California, said meteorologist Jeff Lorber.

“There are definite flooding concerns, given the rainfall rate and duration of the rainfall expected,” he added.

A storm that began Thursday night was expected to die down Friday afternoon, Lorber said. The next round in the “parade of storms” is predicted to arrive Saturday afternoon and turn into a substantial downpour.

Fire officials are encouraging residents to clear their roof gutters of debris so that water can make its way into underground drainage.

“We want water flowing where it needs to flow,” said Paul Lowenthal, Santa Rosa’s assistant fire marshal.

For anyone who wants to stave off flooding, sandbags are available at the Municipal Services Center North, 55 Stony Point Road, in Santa Rosa. This location is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

For information about locations of sandbag stations in other parts of Sonoma County, call the cities below:

• Sebastopol: 707-829-4400;
• Healdsburg: 707-431-3346;
• Sonoma: 707-938-3332;
• Petaluma: 707-776-4303;
• Rohnert Park: 707-588-3300.

There were also concerns about burn scar areas where debris could flow.

Areas most in danger include those in east Santa Rosa that fall within the burn scar of last year’s Glass fire, which charred 67,484 acres and destroyed 1,555 structures in Sonoma and Napa counties, Lowenthal said.

As for fears of the Russian River flooding, Lorber said water levels aren’t expected to rise that high because rivers have received so little rain during the past year.

“Rivers should become elevated but we’re not looking at overflowing banks,” he said.

Rain is likely to taper off by mid-morning on Monday, with lingering showers throughout the day into Tuesday, followed by clearing skies that will last the rest of the week, according to Lorber.

Withl the heavy rain forecast for the next few days, does that spell the end to fire worries?

“We can definitely say it’s going to do a lot to squash most of the fire weather concerns for the future,” Lorber said. “Still, the long-range forecast is for a drier than normal winter.”

(Track the wet weather using the real-time radar map below)

You can reach Staff Writer Kathleen Coates at kathleen.coates@pressdemocrat.com or 707-521-5209. You can reach Staff Writer Matt Pera at matt.pera@pressdemocrat.com. Staff Writer Colin Atagi contributed to this story.