Russian River estuary, on the rise, floods buildings, parking lots in Jenner

Rising water in the Russian River estuary, its mouth sealed shut by heavy surf, has flooded low-lying areas of Jenner, making an island of the community visitor center on Friday and disrupting access at the post office as well as several neighboring businesses perched on the river shore.

Thigh-high water in the visitor center parking lot, located at the south end of town between Highway 1 and the river, entered the small building Friday, reaching 1 ½ to 2 feet high, outside allowing boaters to float over ground usually traveled by cars and pedestrians, witnesses said.

The flooding extended along the estuary at least as far inland as the Y-intersection of Highways 1 and 116 near Bridgehaven and Willow Creek Road.

“It’s been a little wild on the coast,” said Annie Cresswell, administrative director for the Stewards of the Coast and Redwoods, which runs the visitor center. “The kayakers and the canoers are paddling through the visitor center’s parking lot.”

The river reportedly was only about 3 feet below Highway 1. Caltrans has been alerted to the potential for flooding, county personnel said.

The inundation follows rainfall since Wednesday that has swelled the river at its outlet. Storm-generated waves have been so high they have been washing over the beach and contributing to the rising estuary. The water level was still going up late Friday.

If it continued doing so, the post office would have to be evacuated, Postmaster Patti Reese said Friday.

As it was, she and her staff were serving customers off a landing at the rear of the building, in an area of the parking lot that hadn’t yet flooded.

At the front of the elongated structure, the floodwater had reached to the first step to the entrance and part-way up a ramp, preventing patrons from getting inside to check post office boxes or access other services without wading through the parking lot, she said.

An adjoining boutique, rental office and coffee shop south of the post office also had one flooded entryway, with water coming around the side of popular Cafe Aquatica and flooding the side deck.

“The water’s nearly to the road,” said barrista Alicia Dyche. “People were kayaking in our yard.”

A spit of sand extending north from Goat Rock State Beach regulates the flow of water from the river into the ocean throughout the year to some degree, with high surf sometimes shifting enough sand into place to close the mouth completely, as it last did Dec. 2.

When the force of the drought-diminished river is insufficient to breach the sandbar naturally against the opposing pressure of the ocean, it allows the water to rise until it either punches through the sand bar naturally or the Sonoma County Water Agency uses a back hoe to cut a channel allowing outflow. The Water Agency usually does not usually take action until the water reaches 7 to 9 feet as measured by a gauge at the visitor center, spokeswoman Ann DuBay said.

It was close to 8 feet on Monday and had reached 11 ¼ feet Thursday after a plan to breach the sandbar and relieve the swollen river was abandoned Tuesday because of wave and tide conditions that put workers and equipment operating atop wet and malleable sand at risk of being washed away, DuBay said.

High surf on Friday only made matters worse, with waves estimated above 15 feet washing over the sandbar into the river. The rising water proved quite a spectacle to onlookers and draw for wildlife.

“It’s beautiful,” Cresswell said. “Lots of birds.”

But it the flooding did prompt a scramble at the visitor center, where efforts were made to safeguard exhibits and gift shop merchandise. Items most likely to be damaged by moisture, including electronics, shirts and sweatshirts and taxidermied wildlife were removed, much of it by canoe with the help of a volunteer who happened to paddle by, Cresswell said.

Power was cut to the visitor center, so the Water Agency was no longer able to monitor the river level, DuBay said Friday.

The Water Agency hopes there might be an opportunity to breach the mouth Saturday, though high surf was to continue through the weekend.

Ironically, the Stewards group had a new roof put on the visitor center earlier this year.

“We were so afraid it was going to leak in there,” Executive Director Michele Luna said. Now it’s flooding on a wooden floor.

The nonprofit hopes eventually to elevate the building, a project substantially more expensive.

You can reach Staff Writer Mary Callahan at 521-5249 or mary.callahan@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @MaryCallahanB.