Storm dumps up to 3 inches of rain on parts of Sonoma County

Sonoma County’s fire-ravaged terrain appears to have held fast as a potent storm swept through the region overnight Wednesday, although multiple car crashes were reported around the area’s drenched roadways Thursday morning.

The 24-hour rainfall total for the Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County Airport was 1.75 inches as of Thursday at 5 p.m., with most of the precipitation falling after sunset Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service.

Other areas around Santa Rosa reported between 1.5 inches and almost 2 inches of rain as of Thursday morning, while the tiny, forested outpost of Venado west of Healdsburg saw ?2.16 inches, according to the weather service.

“The rain did arrive a little bit later than anticipated,” said weather service meteorologist Scott Rowe. “That’s just due to the fact that the front was slower to push southward through the area.”

Dry conditions are forecast today and Saturday, according to Rowe, with more wet weather possibly arriving Sunday evening, he said.

The overnight downpours led to some ponding in Coffey Park that was quickly dispersed when responders unclogged storm drains, according to Assistant Santa Rosa Fire Marshal Paul Lowenthal.

And a small sinkhole opened up at Dafford Place in Fountaingrove, leading officials to close the road there while crews worked to fix a compromised storm drain pipe. The sinkhole was discovered Thursday morning and workers had already opened the asphalt to repair it, Lowenthal said Thursday afternoon.

No one was evacuated. The sinkhole should take at least a couple of days to repair, according to Lowenthal.

“Overall, the city did really well, given what we were anticipating,” Lowenthal said. “There was a lot of work that’s been done in preparation for this storm, and we prepared for the worst.”

Similarly, crews with the county’s Transportation and Public Works department were closely monitoring the burned areas. They found no issues around the unincorporated roadways during the storm, said department spokeswoman Jennifer Larocque.

Mudslides were a concern after the destructive October wildfires laid waste to large swaths of the county’s landscape, but city and county officials said they had not responded to any Thursday afternoon.

Law enforcement also reported a few significant crashes on soaked roads.

Early Thursday morning, a big rig carrying some ?6,000 chickens was reported overturned in the area of Highway 121 and Ramal Road south of Sonoma, according to a CHP incident log.

The CHP report said the highway was closed between Ramal Road and Napa Road as a result.

Northbound traffic was diverted onto Ramal Road while southbound drivers were steered onto Napa Road, the CHP said. All lanes were open again by about 3:30 p.m.

The truck belonged to a contractor transporting the fowl from an area farm to Petaluma Poultry’s plant in Petaluma, according to company spokesman Bill See.

The early morning crash followed another incident involving multiple cars on Highway 101 in Santa Rosa several hours earlier.

About 11:50 p.m., a 1999 Mercedes Benz entered the southbound freeway from Steele Lane too fast, causing the car to hydroplane and crash into the center divider, according to CHP Officer Jon Sloat.

The Mercedes’ two female occupants - driver Juanita Santana, 36, of Santa Rosa and passenger Angelica Cardiel, 30, also of Santa Rosa - then ?exited the car. As they stood nearby, a 2000 Honda Civic crashed into the Mercedes, which then struck the two women, pinning Santana on the ground, Sloat said.

Seconds later, a ?2006 Lincoln LS sedan crashed into the Honda’s rear end, according to the CHP.

The Honda driver, identified as Gregory Hernandez, 55, of Santa Rosa, fled the scene on foot but was found by CHP officers on Cleveland Avenue west of the freeway, according to Sloat. Hernandez was medically cleared, arrested and booked into the Sonoma County Jail on suspicion of felony hit and run causing injury.

You can reach Staff Writer J.D. Morris at ?707-521-5337 or jd.morris@pressdemocrat.com.