Sonoma County storm updates: More school districts announce flood-related closures

A powerful storm unleashed fierce winds and a torrent of rain across the North Bay on Sunday, toppling trees, forcing evacuations and flooding roads across Sonoma County.

Here is the latest:

6:53 p.m.

The city of Santa Rosa ended the evacuation orders in the area of Neotomas Avenue and Tachevah Drive, Brookhaven Drive, Eastmoor Drive, Washoe Court, and Siminole Court in the Bennett Valley neighborhood, according to an alert issued Sunday evening by the Santa Rosa Fire Department.

Homes that have been damaged by floodwater are scheduled to be tagged by city inspectors to determine their habitability, the agency said.

Residents in and around the previously evacuated areas and all other residents residing near streams, creeks, and low-lying areas were urged to continue to exercise caution until the current storm passes and the water levels recede.

6:44 p.m.

The Sonoma County Office of Education clarified Sunday evening that the K-6 campuses in the Bennett Valley Union School District will be closed on Monday due to flooding. Preschools will be open.

Also, two other school districts will also be closed on Monday due to flooding, the county agency announced. They are the Guerneville School District and Montgomery Elementary School District in Cazadero, just north of Monte Rio.

6:12 p.m.

The Sonoma County Office of Education has announced that the Bennett Valley Union School District will be closed on Monday due to flooding.

5:39 p.m.

Firefighters rescued three men, one woman and a dog from their homeless encampment on an island in the middle of the Russian River around 11 a.m.

A rise of flooding waters on the island in Cloverdale made it difficult for them to get out.

“They didn’t expect the waters to rise as quickly as they did,” Rick Blackmon battalion chief of Cloverdale Fire Protection District said.

5:21 p.m.

The National Weather Service in San Francisco extended the flood warning for urban area and small stream in central Sonoma County until 6 p.m.

Locations that will experience flooding include Santa Rosa, Rohnert Park, Sebastopol, Cotati, Eldridge, south Santa Rosa, Forestville and Graton, a National Weather Service alert said.

“Additional rainfall amounts of 1-2 inches are possible in the warned area,” the alert said.

5:04 p.m.

Swimmers from North Bay Fire’s Swift Water Rescue team — specialists in making rescues in flood and whitewater rapid conditions — were working to rescue seven people who had been trapped by rising water south of Sonoma, near the end of Millerick Road, according to RedCom, Sonoma County’s emergency dispatch agency. A dip in the road allowed for a particularly deep flood zone that rescuers had struggled to bring the stranded people across.

Rescuers brought in a flat-bottomed boat, which swimmers from the Swift Water Rescue Team were towing across the deepest parts of the floodwater.

4:30 p.m.

A motorist who drove around officials closing Slusser Road south of Windsor had to abandon her vehicle after getting stuck in water that reached nearly up to the sedan’s rearview mirrors, according to California Highway Patrol. The driver was able to exit the vehicle unharmed and escape from the flood water, CHP spokesperson Officer David deRutte said, but the car will stay put until the flood waters recede.

Power outages continued around the county in the late afternoon.

At Country Wine & Liquor on Highway 116 in Sebastopol, Surinder Singh was making only cash sales and wearing a flashlight strapped to his chest. The store lost power around 8 a.m. Sunday during a period of the storm that was “very bad and windy,” he said, and has not seen it return since. Singh estimated he’d lost around 75% of his business for the day.

4:03 p.m.

Sonoma County published a list of more than 20 road closures caused by the storm as of Sunday afternoon. Downed trees, flooding and one sinkhole, on Wright Drive in Guerneville, were responsible for the closures.

3:11 p.m.

Police in Sebastopol issued a Nixle alert warning of a “considerable amount of standing water” in the area of Petaluma Avenue just south of Abbott Avenue due to the “extreme” amount of rain that has hit the area over the past several hours. Authorities are warning that travel in this area should be avoided unless absolutely necessary due to the hazardous conditions.

3:07 p.m.

The National Weather Service has issued a flash flood warning for the Glass fire burn scar area, according to a Nixle alert from the Santa Rosa Fire Department. The warning, which was upgraded from a flash flood watch, was due to current rainfall rates and the potential for debris flows in the burn scar area. The fire department advises residents to go to srcity.org/RainReady and click on “2020 Glass Fire Burn Scar Area” to access a risk map.

2:26 p.m.

Some roads in Petaluma are closed due to flooding, according to a Nixle alert from Petaluma police. They are:

– Lakeville Street between East D Street and Caulfield Lane

– Jefferson Street between Lakeville Street and Wilson Street

– Lindberg Lane between Payran Street and Lakeville Street.

Residents are urged to stay home and limit driving under hazardous conditions.

Residents of Leisure Lake, Lindberg Lane, and East Court are encouraged to prepare for evacuations as needed.

2 p.m.

Authorities are responding to a report of seven people stranded next to a flooding creek south of Sonoma, near the end of Millerick Road, according to Schell-Vista Fire Chief Mike Mulas.

The U.S. Coast Guard was working to rescue them, Mulas said.

In Marin County, the Sheriff's Office warned residents of continued heavy rain and winds into Sunday afternoon. Reports of flooding and downed trees, as well as power outages were also affecting people in all parts of the county. PG&E, as of 1:30 p.m. reported as much as 21,472 custormers without power.

1:20 p.m.

In a Nixle alert shortly after 1 p.m., Santa Rosa officials said residents in the Bennett Valley neighborhood “in and around the areas of Neotomas Avenue and Tachevah Drive, Brookhaven Drive, Tuscan Drive and Washoe Court need to remove belongings from the first floors of their homes and garages due to significant flooding and rising waters and evacuate the area.”

Firefighters were knocking on doors to notify people in the area, according to city officials.

Michael Leavitt, 34, shares two two-story units with his family and he said water on the bottom floor goes up to his ankles, while backyard water goes to his knees.

They rushed to move as much property upstairs but they will be spending the night at a hotel.

“It’s terrible. The bottom floor of every unit is ruined,” Leavitt said as other tenants evacuated in the rain.

A man only identifying himself as the landlord said about a dozen people are affected and they will be provided hotels for the night.

12:30 p.m.

The National Weather Service extended its flood warning for Sonoma County to include a wide swath of the center of the county. The warning covers Santa Rosa, Rohnert Park, Sebastopol, Cotati, Forestville and Graton.

Flooding has already occurred in those areas, which have received between 2 and 4 inches of rain, and another 1 to 2 inches is predicted, the weather service said.

12:15 p.m.

The swollen Lorna Del Creek in east Santa Rosa flooded at least three apartments in the area of Tachevah Drive and Neotomas Avenue, said Paul Lowenthal, Santa Rosa’s assistant fire marshal.

Residents were evacuated from several apartments in the area. Crews were working to clear debris from the creek in order to stem the flooding, according to Santa Rosa Police Sgt. Chris Mahurin.

Water spilled out of the creek behind Yulupa Elementary School, at Tachevah and Neotomas.

Mark Marigo said the ankle-deep water was warm as he walked through it with his 15-year-old son, Bennett.

“To see water flow like this is crazy,” Bennett said.

In Guerneville, a tree fell on two homes in the 15000 block of Old River Road.

12 p.m.

Nearly 25,000 Sonoma County homes and businesses were without power as a result of more than a dozen separate outages, according to Pacific Gas & Electric Co.

The largest outage zapped power for nearly 8,500 PG&E customers in Sebastopol.

An outage in Petaluma was affecting just over 4,100 customers, another in Forestville wiped out power for 4,009 customers and one in Guerneville included 2,733 customers.

Track power outages here.

9:45 a.m.

A rain gauge near Fetters Hot Springs, north of Sonoma, has recorded 5.86 inches of rain over the past 12 hours, one of the highest readings in Sonoma County, according to the National Weather Service.

About 4.5 inches of rain have been recorded in Kenwood, Cloverdale and Oak Ridge east of Sea Ranch.

Santa Rosa rain gauges have measured between 3.5 and 4 inches on average.

9:30 a.m.

A flood watch was issued for the Russian River at Hopland in Mendocino County. The National Weather Service said the rising water could flood Highway 175.

9:15 a.m.

The National Weather Service issued an areal flood warning, signifying a risk of floods that develop gradually in low-lying areas, for southwest Santa Rosa, Sebastopol, Forestville and Graton through 11 a.m.

9 a.m.

Wide swaths of west county lost power Sunday morning. An outage started at about 7 a.m. south of Sebastopol, cutting power to nearly 900 homes and businesses. Another began at 7:15 a.m. for nearly 700 PG&E customers, the utility reported.

Track power outages here.

8:30 a.m.

A tree fell on a home at 10600 Guernewood Road in Guerneville, on the south side of the Russian River, according to the Sonoma County Fire District. No injuries were reported.

8:15 a.m.

A fallen tree blocked Old Redwood Highway just south of Shiloh Road near Windsor.

8 a.m.

North of Santa Rosa, a tow truck responded to a report of a car that had been hit by a falling boulder on Mark West Springs Road near the intersection with Cross Creek Road. No injuries were reported, according to the Sonoma County Fire District.

7:30 a.m.

Thousands of homes and businesses lost power in the storm, according to Pacific Gas & Electric Co. By daybreak, the utility reported an outage affecting nearly 4,000 of its customers near Forestville, and another that had zapped power for more than 1,500 near Occidental.

Reports of fallen trees blocking roads streamed in throughout the night, 911 dispatchers said.

The National Weather Service issued a flash flood watch for areas recently burned by wildfires the North Bay. The watch is in effect between 5 a.m. and 11 p.m. on Sunday.

Minor flooding was anticipated along Mark West Creek on Sunday afternoon, when the water level was expected to rise to 57.9 feet, according to the National Weather Service.

The Russian River was expected to rise to 29 feet on Sunday, below the flood stage of 32 feet, said Cyndi Foreman, a Sonoma County Fire division chief.

4:30 a.m.

Rain gauges had measured well over 3 inches of precipitation in 24 hours in parts of west county by 4:30 a.m., according to the National Weather Service.

In Guerneville, a gauge recorded 3.21 inches of rain. Another in the hills east of Fort Ross showed 3.45 inches, and one near Cazadero showed 3.05 inches.

About 2 inches fell in Santa Rosa and about 1.4 fell in Healdsburg.

You can reach Staff Writer Matt Pera at matthew.pera@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @Matt__Pera.