Kincade fire burn scar the subject of flash flood watch

The soggy weather that settled in over Northern California sparked a flash flood watch and high wind advisory for parts of Sonoma County and caused a few road impacts when trees and other debris blocked roadways.

The National Weather Service about noon Sunday issued a high wind warning for the western flanks of Marin and Sonoma counties, pairing the warning with a flash flood watch issued before 6 a.m. Sunday for areas impacted by the Kincade fire and downstream locations.

Both notices were set to expire early Monday morning, but by midafternoon Sunday both had left their mark in at least a small way on Sonoma County.

At 4 p.m., Santa Rosa had received 2.86 inches of rain in the previous 24 hours, while Windsor earned 3.41 inches and Cazadero got 3.07 inches, according to Accuweather.

National Weather Service meteorologist Steve Anderson, citing trained storm spotter reports, said a couple of Sonoma County roads were blocked at least temporarily Sunday by downed trees and other debris.

A tree across Old River Road near Bonita Avenue in Guerneville was already taken care of by PG&E by the time Monte Rio firefighters arrived on scene, and a small mudslide and debris pile affecting Westside Road was also dispatched Sunday morning without issue.

Sunday afternoon brought a rockslide to Highway 128 between Chalk Hill Road and Kellogg. That area is within the burn area, but it’s also a normal rockslide area, Geyserville Fire Capt. James Tovani said.

There’s fencing in place along the east side of the road to keep the hill at bay, but that didn’t stop rocks from blocking traffic and causing a few flat tires.

Along with the Kincade burn scar, which includes nearly 80,000 acres in northeastern Sonoma County and parts of western Napa County, the National Weather Service said flash flooding could impact Santa Rosa, south Santa Rosa, Napa, San Rafael, Petaluma, Novato, Rohnert Park, Angwin, Lagunitas-Forest Knolls and Woodacre.

“Excessive rain rates and storm total amounts from 3 to 4 inches may trigger flash flooding over the burn area,” according to the National Weather Service San Francisco Bay Area’s flash flood watch.

The threat of wet and windy weather was set to continue until 3 a.m. Monday.

High winds from the southeast expected to reach 45 mph were isolated along coastal areas in the North Bay, including Bodega Bay, but covered vast swaths of California from San Francisco to the East Bay and east of Livermore south beyond Big Sur and King City.

The most severe winds - potentially reaching 60 mph - drew a high wind warning from the National Weather Service, and impacted areas around Half Moon Bay, as well as Monterey.

The threat of rain will continue throughout the week, picking back up strongly by Thursday night and into next weekend, Anderson said.