High water keeps numerous Sonoma County roads, schools closed another day

Numerous Sonoma County roads and highways remained closed Thursday afternoon, more than a dozen school districts canceled class and the Russian River continued to slowly drop, pulling back floodwaters from inundated river communities still isolated by submerged roads.

The extensive flooding led to a state of emergency declaration Thursday by California Gov. Gavin Newsom for Sonoma County, easing the way to disaster aid for local residents.

Patches of blue sky and sun mixed with clouds over the river region Thursday and the forecast called for two days of dry weather, likely helping attitudes and the soggy situation.

The Russian River's slow dropping rate likely means evacuated residents shouldn't expect to get back to their homes before Friday morning. But timing will depend on runoff, river levels, roads and weather, Sonoma County sheriff's Sgt. Spencer Crum said.

This week's storm, with days of pouring rain, jumped into Sonoma County's sixth spot of historic Russian River flood levels, forced evacuations of thousands and caused an early estimate of $25 million in damage and response costs. The river crested late Wednesday night at 45.4 feet in Guerneville.

Although travel through the area remained circuitous or not possible, the storm's worst appeared over by Wednesday. Sonoma County 911 dispatchers reported a relatively quiet Wednesday night in the flood zone, other than a few people needing help after driving into flooded roads and a dramatic rescue of a woman found clinging to a tree after her car sank underwater on Eastside Road.

Once the water has receded from homes and business, more than three dozen county workers will begin checking the structures to determine if they are habitable, Crum said.

County road crews also are prepared to start road cleanup as the water disappears but mud and debris remain. “They're ready to go. As it goes down they will be on top of it,” he said.

2:05 p.m.

GUERNEVILLE - Throughout the morning and afternoon, local residents and business owners began surveying the damage and in areas of town that were made accessible by the receding waters. Where possible, some residents took kayaks, canoes or boats to check on their homes.

Annie Boutelle, 45, the manager of Johnson's Beach, borrowed a friend's kayak to get near her cabin on River Road, just east of Old River Drive. She said 4 or 5 feet of water got into her cabin.

Boutelle, who's lived in Guerneville for 16 years, said she was able to move many of her valuables up into a sleeping loft before she had to evacuate at 2 a.m. Wednesday. She used a small U-Haul truck for the rest of her belongings.

“I wasn't able to get to my rugs, three small bookcases and a dresser,” she said. “I didn't get to anything in the kitchen.”

She said seven other people on her property were flooded out.

By 1 p.m., Bonnie Smith, 70, was sweeping the sidewalk of flood debris in front of the Russian River Art Gallery, where the rising water stopped at the threshold. Smith's dog, Snickers, stood nearby watching passersby and emergency vehicles patrolling the area.

Smith, who lives on a hill on the northeast side of town said she was grateful the gallery had been spared. Inside were paintings, prints, handmade jewelry - everything dry. “It's nice to see the sun for a day or two,” she said.

Next door, Jilla Gauthier, the owner of River Queen Clothing, entered her shop for the first time since Tuesday evening to check the damage. Everything of value in the store had been lifted off the ground.

As she walked across the shop, Gauthier quickly realized water had entered the store from the back of the property.

“The floors are all warped,” she said. “Oh, God, it could have been so much more worse. It looks like I got 3 or 4 inches of water.”

Gauthier said her landlord has flood insurance so the floors will likely be replaced. But her shop's inventory was not insured.

At the nearby Safeway, area district manager Bob Boyette, coordinated a team of local employees and contractors who were preparing the store for possibly reopening Friday. Store employees busily restocked all the merchandise that as a precaution had been moved up from the lowest shelves.

“Other than that we're in pretty good shape,” he said. “We're just getting ready to take care of the community.”

Boyette said the water got within 2 inches of the grocery store's entry. The rising river and nearby Fife Creek flooded much of the parking lot and blocked access to vehicles.

Many of the business on River Road, Guerneville and Rio Nido were hit hard, some of them receiving between 10 and 12 feet of water. National Guard high water vehicles could not get through there for much of the morning and early afternoon.

1:40 p.m.

With the receding of floodwaters Thursday, Healdsburg officials were able to enter the city's wastewater treatment facility to assess the damage from up to 3 feet of standing water in areas overnight Wednesday, finding what is initially believed in the hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses.

Once water levels dropped on access roads into the headquarters for the system that collects, stores and treat's the city's faucet and toilet water, utility staff were able to get into the operations building Thursday morning and discover five damaged motors that prevented the ongoing treatment of wastewater. The equipment was removed and taken to a local repair shop with hopes of receiving a couple back by this evening so the treatment process can start back up before the storage tanks eventually overflow.

“We're really just focused on getting this back up and running,” said Terry Crowley, the city's utility director. “We still have a little bit of capacity and are looking at Saturday evening for the time we'd be completely full. We're working with the regional board on what it looks like for a contingency plan.”

Another building at the site that functions as a staff workshop was also badly damaged by the nearby Dry Creek overtaking its banks. A contractor will be brought on to rebuild the building's drywall over the next month, in addition to replacing tools and furniture from the sudden deluge of water that led the city to declare a local emergency Wednesday morning.

City utility staff will continue working 16- to 18-hour days into the weekend and possibly early next week, said Crowley. They'll work to reinstall, reconnect and restart full treatment of water as soon as the rebuilt motors are returned.

1 p.m.

The largest mudslide in Sonoma County was on Bohemian Highway between Occidental and Monte Rio and officials expected it would take some time to clear. Drivers now are able to get around it by taking a marked detour that includes Main Street.

“That one is huge. It's thousands of yards” of dirt, rocks, fallen trees and debris, said Monte Rio Steve Baxman.

It buries the rural highway, estimated at 8 feet at its deepest, and stretches a couple hundred yards, Baxman said.

It somehow didn't knock over a nearby summer home and trailer but instead swept around them, he said.

A second, smaller slide had blocked Main Street near the Monte Rio skate park but Baxman said he asked a resident with a tractor to clear it so that ambulances could get into the area. That was cleared Wednesday.

12:40 p.m.

Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in Sonoma County Thursday, saying flooding brought on by an atmospheric river that swept through parts of the state this week has forced the evacuation of thousands of residents in Sonoma County. Newsom's order makes state disaster aid, assistance and relief programs available to those who suffer damage from the recent storm and subsequent flooding, county officials said. It would also waive regulations that could slow response and recovery efforts.

Four other counties impacted by the fierce storm, Amador, Glenn, Lake and Mendocino were included in the emergency proclamation. Sonoma County supervisors declared a local emergency and sought Newsom's proclamation on Tuesday.

11:30 a.m.

State Highway 37's westbound lanes near Novato in northern Marin County remained closed Thursday morning with no estimated time for reopening, according to Caltrans. Eastbound lanes are open.

The same stretch of roadway, between Highway 101 and Atherton Avenue, also was closed for six days earlier in the month due to flooding, with crews working around the clock installing barriers and pumping water to get the lanes reopened for the morning commute on Feb. 20.

An initial CHP survey seemed to suggest the new flooding in the low-lying spot of the roadway, which is adjacent to the San Pablo Bay, is worse than the previous closure that began on Feb. 15.

“The flooding on the westbound side appears to be more substantial than last week,” said CHP Officer Andrew Barclay.

11 a.m.

Firefighters early Thursday made a dramatic rescue of a woman found clinging to a tree after her car sunk under about 10 feet of water in west Sonoma County, said Cyndi Foreman, a Rincon Valley and Windsor Fire Protection District spokeswoman.

The driver, a Press Democrat newspaper driver who is in her 60s, called for help about 3 a.m., saying she had driven into flood waters, which were filling her car.

She told dispatchers she'd climbed out and was on top of her car but wasn't sure what road she was on. Then the call dropped, Foreman said.

Cellphone towers tracked her location to the general area of Eastside Road near the county's Riverfront Regional Park. A swift water rescue team found her there, hanging onto the tree with water up to her neck.

Firefighters swam to her and carried her for almost a mile to an waiting ambulance, Foreman said. She was driven to Windsor High School, where she was flown to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital where she was treated for hypothermia and released later Thursday morning.

10:20 a.m.

Power outages Thursday involved about 3,000 Sonoma County residents, down from the 7,700 customers in the dark Wednesday night.

The outages were due mostly to flooding and mudslides and crews have been blocked from getting to some problem spots, including Bohemian Highway and Dry Creek Road. Thursday those areas were accessible and repairs would be started, said Deanna Contreras, company spokeswoman.

The biggest outage remained 1,050 customers in the greater Cazadero area. PG&E crews working in that area became trapped by a mudslide Tuesday and had to spend the night in their vehicles before being flown out Wednesday afternoon. Thursday morning the company planned to fly a helicopter over the lines along Fort Ross Road and Highway 1 to assess the damage and resume repairs.

The longest outage is 44 hours to eight customers in Guerneville, Contreras said. Two crews Thursday were working to end outages there.

Other outages included 665 customers in Forestville, 549 customers in Guerneville, nearly 300 in Sebastopol, 251 in Jenner and 283 in Monte Rio. Outages of more than 100 customers were reported in Duncans Mills, Healdsburg, and Bodega Bay.

8:35 a.m.

River residents came out early Thursday to see the situation in Guerneville, hoping to find a lot less water. Instead they found the scene not much different than what it was Wednesday night, with deep water remaining over several streets, submerged vehicles and water flooding homes and businesses.

One resident out early was Beth Rudometkin, 58, a Guerneville resident since 1962. She'd sold her river property a few months ago, making this the first flood in decades that she hasn't had to clean up her own property. But Thursday she was prepared with trucks and equipment and expected to spend the next few days helping friends with their flood cleanup.

Rudometkin also was taking pictures of a friend's downtown business. She wanted to capture the water line so the owner could stop wondering how bad the flooding was. “I just want to give them some peace of mind,” she said.

8:15 a.m.

Schools closed due to flood or power outages totaled 14 Thursday, mainly throughout the west county. The Sonoma County Office of Education reported the closures: Monte Vista Elementary in the Cotati- Rohnert Park Unified School District Forestville Union School District; Harmony School District, Guerneville School District, Kashia School District, Monte Rio School District, Montgomery School District, Oak Grove School District, Sebastopol Union School District, The REACH Charter School, Sebastopol Charter, Sebastopol Union School District, Twin Hills School District and West Sonoma County Union High School District.

8:15 a.m.

By about 8 a.m. the Russian River was projected to be about 43 feet, still nine feet over flood stage but down from the night's crest of 45.4 feet at 10 p.m. - making the flood the worst in the region since Jan. 1, 1997.

At that level, access to Guerneville remained cut off for another day but a secondary route was open to Monte Rio from Occidental. Runoff calculations and river forecasts by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predict the Russian River will be back within its banks by about 11 p.m. Thursday.

8 a.m.

Morning commuters west of Santa Rosa had to scramble around several closures on major routes, including Highway 12 on the east side of Sebastopol, Guerneville Road between Frei and Olivet roads and River Road from Mirabel into Guerneville. Rural side streets, including Laguna Road, were busy before 7 a.m. with an unusual high volume of traffic as drivers navigated the Guerneville Road closure.

The Highway 12 closure at Sebastopol led to significant backups early Thursday.

Eastbound Highway 37 in Marin County reopened Wednesday afternoon after being closed due to flooding. Westbound lanes remain closed.

Check back for updates on this developing story.

Staff Writers Martin Espinoza and Kevin Fixler contributed to this report. You can reach Staff Writer Randi Rossmann at 707-521-5412 or randi.rossmann@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter@rossmannreport. You can reach Staff Writer Nashelly Chavez at 707-521-5203 or nashelly.chavez@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter@nashellytweet.