Residents' input sought on Sonoma flood control

Local officials want residents’ input on ways to control flooding along First Street West in downtown Sonoma near the city’s historic Plaza.

The Sonoma County Water Agency will team up with the city, holding a meeting from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday to discuss options engineers are looking at for a project geared toward dealing with the flooding. The meeting will be held in Sonoma’s Community Meeting Room, 177 First St. West.

Flooding has been a particular problem on that street because of an open ditch near Depot Park that overflows during heavy storms, water agency spokeswoman Ann DuBay said. Unable to handle heavy rainfall, she said the ditch creates flooding problems farther down the road near the historic Plaza, as it did during the major storm that slammed Northern California in mid-December.

“The water came right up to the doors of several businesses,” DuBay said.

Fortunately, she said, city maintenance workers cleared debris from storm drains and shopkeepers put sandbags out in front of their businesses, preventing major flood damage in the area. Still, she said work needs to be done to smooth the water flow along First Street West.

“In a bigger storm,” she said,” there would be some real issues.”