Deluge drops four inches of rain on Sonoma County

After almost a week of El Niño-fueled deluges that toppled trees and dropped nearly 4 inches of rain on Santa Rosa, and closer to 9 inches in other parts of Sonoma County, finally, a respite.

Yes, Thursday was clear. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and hopefully traffic was a little less terrible.

The nice weather, while enjoyable, was, unfortunately, brief. Another system is expected to blow into the area Friday evening, bringing more showers to the area through Saturday, said Diana Henderson, a forecaster with the National Weather Service.

After that, though, clear weather is expected until at least Monday night, she said.

Intermittent rain is a welcome condition in the flood-prone Russian River communities of Guerneville and Monte Rio, where officials said the breaks between storms have allowed water to recede.

Monte Rio Fire Chief Steve Baxman said the river had been at low summer levels and is just now reaching its bank.

“If we can keep going a day between storms, we’ll be fine,” he said.

As expected, trees fell and roads were temporarily blocked. Just before 6 p.m. Thursday, a tree fell into a power line, blocking Watertrough Road at Bodega Highway, and causing a large outage to 356 Pacific Gas & Electric customers in the area southwest of Sebastopol. As of 7:30 p.m. Thursday, there was still no word on when power would be restored.

About a half-dozen surfers hit the waves Thursday at Doran Beach during a high surf warning for dangerous, battering waves. The U.S. Coast Guard recorded 16.4-foot seas at noon, but the ocean died down as the afternoon progressed.

Baxman said a house threatened by a failing retaining wall in the Monte Vista neighborhood still, miraculously, was standing Thursday.

“I don’t know how, but it is,” he said.

Crews worked to clear a number of roads closed by flooding, slides and fallen trees. Cleanup was continuing after a slide blocked one lane on St. Helena Road Wednesday night and heavy rains flooded Piner and Slusser roads in Santa Rosa, said Rob Silva, division manager at the Sonoma County Transportation and Public Works Department.

Roads remaining closed included portions of Valley Ford Road, Green Valley Road west of Sullivan Road and Mark West Station Road at Starr Road.

You can reach Staff Writer Christi Warren at 521-5205 or christi.warren@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @SeaWarren.