Rain lull helps clear flooding in county; more rain due (w/video)

A pause between showers and storms Wednesday allowed standing water throughout the region to soak in, reducing the number of flooded Sonoma County roadways.

After some heavy, brief downpours Wednesday, more sustained rain was expected late Thursday night or early Friday with showers into Saturday, according to forecasts.

A healthy chain of storms has dropped large amounts of rain on the area. As of Wednesday morning, Santa Rosa's total stood at 17.66 inches, compared to the average for this point in the season of 9.12 inches.

That didn't include most of the Tuesday-through-Wednesday morning rain.

'There was a very decent amount, 1 to 2 inches and an isolated near-3 inches' in the hills, said Bob Benjamin, meteorologist for the National Weather Service.

Local weather volunteers for the National Weather Service reported 24-hour totals as 7 a.m. Wednesday. One Cazadero resident recorded 2.68 inches, while in there was 1.35 inches in Occidental, 1.76 inches in Guerneville and 2.15 inches in Rio Nido.

To the south, one Petaluma resident showed 1.15 inches and in Rohnert Park, 1.18. Windsor had up to 1.19 inches and Santa Rosa residents reported a range of 0.73 to 0.92 inch. To the north, Healdsburg reports ranged from 1.04 to 1.49 inches and a Cloverdale resident reported 1.52 inches.

On the east side of the county, Boyes Hot Springs had 0.94 of an inch and Glen Ellen showed as much as 1.31 inches.

Dry skies are expected Sunday and through the Christmas holiday week.

Sonoma County's road maintenance report Wednesday showed Valley Ford Road and Valley Ford Freestone Road flooding had kept the roads blocked early in the day, but by late morning they were open.

Geysers Road continued to be blocked at the Cloverdale end by a slide and Green Valley Road near Sullivan Road in Graton remained closed due to water and road damage.

In the Sonoma-Lake-Napa region covered by Cal Fire, 81 calls for service had come in as of Tuesday since the major storm late last week, Cal Fire Capt. Joe Fletcher said. Those were mainly for downed trees and power lines.

Most of those calls came after the initial heavy rains and wind — an example of how trees continue to fall days after storms are over, Fletcher said.

The most serious call for help occurred Monday at a home on Soda Canyon Road outside of Napa where a huge tree fell onto the residence, crushing much of it, Fletcher said. The residents were home but no one was injured.

Fletcher recommended residents remain vigilant for falling trees. 'It can take a while.'