More rain on the way in the North Bay

National Weather Service warns of potential flooding and power outages as the next winter storm bears down.|

Just as the North Coast is drying out from last week’s torrential rainfall that sent the Russian River overflowing its banks, another round of storms blowing in Wednesday is expected to turn the spigots back on.

Between 3 and 5 inches of rainfall are forecast in Sonoma County over a 72-hour period starting Wednesday morning.

That could mean more car-crunching potholes, more trees toppling over and more power outages.

It also could mean more flooding, although if there’s a bright spot in the forecast, it’s that the rain isn’t expected to come down all at once.

“It’s not like it’s going to be coming down for hours and hours and hours like a couple of the previous storms,” Brian Mejia, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said Sunday.

The National Weather Service on Sunday issued a hazardous weather outlook for the week outlining the arrival of approaching storms and their impacts.

The weak high-pressure ridge that’s been along the coast is expected to break down Tuesday, with a low pressure trough and frontal system moving into the area with rain and gusty winds.

The first storm Wednesday morning is expected to bring moderate to heavy rain, as well as gusty winds, through nightfall. The forecast calls for a break in the weather Thursday, before another storm roars in that night and lingers into Saturday.

The National Weather Service is warning of potential flooding in low-lying areas of the North Bay, and for creeks and rivers to possibly reach or go beyond flood stage. There is no specific warning yet for the Russian River, where damage from last week’s floods is expected to run in the millions of dollars.

County road crews are still contending with road damage from last week’s storms that is expected to top $7 million. Five roads were still closed or under restricted use Sunday.

Two of those closures - Santa Rosa Avenue and Old Monte Rio Road - are due to a mudslide in the mountains above Highway 116 west of Guerneville.

St. Helena Road east of Santa Rosa and Mays Canyon Road near Guerneville were still down to one lane Sunday due to slides.

Kruse Ranch Road in Fort Ross is closed entirely due to a slide.

You can reach Staff Writer Derek Moore at 707-521-5336 or derek.moore@pressdemocrat.com.

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