The Russian River crested early Wednesday above flood stage, causing minor flooding, while high water kept Highway 37 near Novato closed in both directions, adding to major traffic issues for the morning commute.
The river got to 33.9 feet in Guerneville and then began to drop. A powerful storm due Thursday now is causing predictions for the river to rise just over flood stage on Friday morning. Flooding typically starts in Guerneville when the river gets higher than 32 feet.
Russian River Firefighter Jason Dooyes said no serious problems were reported during the night. “Just localized areas of flooding,” he said. “It’s not like it was three weeks ago.”
In northern Marin County, traffic reports indicated drivers had backed up heavily in Petaluma, in part from the Highway 37 closure, although the morning commute typically includes a Petaluma slow down. The heavily used highway is a major route connecting four counties.
Drivers were being diverted around the swamped lanes to Atherton Avenue, which Novato police have said creates traffic problems in the city.
The Highway 37 headache was expected to last for some days. “With it raining right now and with another storm coming tomorrow, we’re anticipating more problems,” said CHP Officer Andrew Barclay.
The weather continued to impact school days for students in the river area. Wednesday Guerneville School and Monte Rio Union School District were closed.
The Monday‑Tuesday downpours brought more than 3 inches of rain to much of the region and then the weather took a break. Rain started back up again Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, piling on more to already impressive rain totals.
Volunteer weather watchers for the National Weather Service as of 7 a.m. reported totals of more than one inch in several areas, including Cazadero with almost 2 inches and Sebastopol and Guerneville with 1.5 inches. Other recordings included Windsor, .85 inches, Glen Ellen .73 inches, Santa Rosa .95 inches and .51 inches in Petaluma.
Rain and showers were expected Wednesday leading into the arrival of Thursday’s storm and the possibility of more than two inches in several areas, according to forecasts.
Current road closures in the county totaled 31 Wednesday morning, mainly due to flooding, fallen trees and mudslides. The closures mainly were in the west county and ranged from remote Old Cazadero Road to more steadily used routes including Eastside Road where two spots were closed due to flooding.
Power outages Wednesday in Sonoma County appeared to involve a few hundred people, according to a PG&E outage report. On Tuesday more than 23,000 customers had been out of power at some point during the storm.
You can reach Staff Writer Randi Rossmann at 521-5412 or randi.rossmann@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter@rossmannreport.
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