North Bay storms threaten homes, sweep woman into surf

Mudslides, toppled trees, outages and road closures accompany the latest storm.|

The North Bay appeared to be avoiding the worst of a Presidents Day storm battering Northern California, but a continuous rain accompanied by strong winds caused problems across the region including mudslides, a vacation home sliding into the Russian River and woman being swept off a rock into the turbulent Sonoma County surf.

At one point as many as 5,000 PG&E customers west of Highway 101 lost power Monday night.

The largest outage was in and around Forestville, but residences near Cazadero, Bodega Bay, Occidental and Sebastopol also were affected.

At least seven roads were closed, including portions of Mark West Station, Wohler, Todd, Valley Ford and Valley Ford Freestone roads, along with a section of Old Monte Rio in Guerneville because of a slip out. Highway 12/121 in Schellville south of Sonoma and Valley Ford Road east of Bodega also were closed.

The Lakeport Police Department issued mandatory evacuations for four areas of the city due to rising flood waters, including two mobile home parks and some waterfront homes.

Fire crews were called to home on Moscow Road for a report of a sinkhole Monday afternoon, and found a $318-per-night pyramid-shaped rental home severely undermined by the river.

“It looks like it’s getting ready to slide into the river,” Baxman said.

“It’s a sad deal.”

A woman who answered the phone at Russian River Vacation Homes said she was aware of the home’s structural issues. She declined to provide additional information about the property or its owners.

The Airbnb website declared the Pyramid House “an architectural delight” and shows photos of the home’s striking wood interior and wide deck overlooking the river.

Baxman said efforts appeared to have been made to reinforce the footings being undermined by the eroding riverbank, but the home nevertheless was listing toward the river.

“I hate to see a house go down, but I don’t see much hope for it,” Baxman said, noting the river was expected to rise another 7 feet in the next 24 hours.

The river is now expected to crest at 31.7 feet, down from the 34.2 feet originally forecast.

The river’s flood stage at Guerneville is 32 feet.

Many areas of the county received more than 2  nches of rain from the powerful atmospheric river, including 2.3 inches in Santa Rosa, nearly 3 inches at Lake Sonoma and 5.4 inches in the hills west of Healdsburg, according to the National Weather Service.

Winds gusting over 35 mph blew down numerous trees across the West County, including on Sweetwater Springs Road outside Guerneville.

On the Sonoma Coast, a 19-year-old woman who was swept into the ocean at Schoolhouse Beach near Bodega Bay was rushed to a hospital with life-threatening injuries, authorities said.

The unidentified woman was perched on a rock when she and several other members in a group of five were swept into the frigid water by storm-fueled waves pounding the beach.

A California State Parks lifeguard arrived on the scene about five minutes after the 1:35 p.m. call for help. He could not immediately locate the missing woman, Supervising State Park Ranger Damien Jones said.

Jones said the lifeguard and a Bodega Bay firefighter went into the water after donning special gear to search for the woman.

She was found floating face down and unconscious approximately 10 to 15 minutes after she was reported missing.

The Sonoma County Sheriff’s helicopter lifted her from the water.

The woman was taken by ambulance to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, where her condition could not be determined Monday night.

A washout on Old Monte Rio Road west of Guerneville sent asphalt, mud and trees crashing down a hillside, narrowly avoiding homes on either side.

About 300 feet of the road partially collapsed after the soaked ground beneath it gave way.

Officials at the scene were determining whether the slide posed a risk to Highway 116, about 500 feet below the washout.

The road was closed, preventing traffic from passing through to homes on the other side of the washout.

The homes, which included a vacation rental and a home for sale, were unoccupied at the time of the slide.

Several residents on the former logging road visited the washout Monday to see for themselves the damage wrought by several weeks of pounding storms.

The site is about a mile west of a Jan. 9 mudslide on Old Monte Rio Road and Santa Rosa Avenue that forced evacuations and led to seven homes temporarily being red-tagged.

“I think it’s just a part of living here,” said a man who gave his name as Scott.

“The rest of the year it’s beautiful up here.”

The good news is the region appears to have avoided the brunt of the storm, with the heaviest concentrations of rain shifting south Monday night.

“It took a jog south of about 40 to 50 miles,” Brian Garcia, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service said.

He said forecasters have downgraded flood warnings for the Russian and Napa rivers.

The rain was expected to taper off around midnight with scattered showers predicted for Tuesday.

Santa Rosa’s rainfall pushed totals for this time of year to more than 200 percent of average rainfall.

The CHP reported no major crashes on roads Monday morning.

“There’s a lot less traffic out there. So far, so good for us,” Sgt. Allan Capurro said.

Sonoma County remained under a high-wind warning and wind advisory until 3 a.m. Tuesday, with 25- to 35-mph winds and gusts reaching 60 mph.

After the return of sunshine on Thursday and Friday, NWS forecaster Steve Anderson said another storm of comparable size appears to be forming to make landfall this weekend.

“I’m tired of the rain, too,” Anderson said, “but it’s time to learn and to prepare for the next one.”

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