Sonoma County Flooding: 'Guerneville Still Underwater'

SONOMA COUNTY, CA — Thousands of residents and business owners evacuated from Guerneville and other communities in the flooded lower Russian River area are asked to wait until noon Friday to re-enter the area.

"At this point we are waiting for the river to recede below flood level," Sonoma County officials said Thursday, after the river peaked at 45.4 feet overnight.

Flood stage is 32 feet at the Guerneville Bridge, and the river was at 42 feet Thursday afternoon. Incident Commander Spencer Andreas, a battalion chief for Sonoma Valley Fire, said they are expecting the river will recede back below flood stage by Friday morning.

As many as 3,000 structures were damaged during the flood, according to a preliminary estimate. Law enforcement and other agencies are surveying the flooded area and assessing the conditions of the roads and bridges, according to the county. FEMA and California OES are scheduled to join county officials Friday to begin damage assessments.

County Spokeswoman Briana Khan said 59 people were rescued by National Guard high-water vehicles, and by boats and helicopters from Cal Fire and the CHP.

All evacuation orders for Guerneville and lower Russian River area communities remain in effect until noon Friday, according to the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office.

"Sonoma County authorities are trying lift the evacuation to residents tomorrow, March 1st, around noon," the sheriff's office said via Nixle at 6:40 p.m. Thursday. "Crews will be clearing roads and assessing damage in the morning. We are trying to open the town up to residents only. There will be ID checks to enter. ... The opening remains subject to change if damage is located and so severe that it presents a danger to the public."

In the meantime, 17 deputies are assigned to Guerneville to provide public safety and prevent looting, Sonoma County Sheriff Mark Essick said. Essick noted there have been no reports of missing persons, fatalities or serious injuries as of Thursday afternoon.

"Guerneville is still underwater," said Misti Harris, spokeswoman for the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office. "Only about four blocks of Guerneville is available. There are no services in town. All of Guerneville is still under a mandatory evacuation order. If you can find some back way somehow to get into town, we ask that you please don't. There is nothing here and it makes it more difficult for everybody else as well."

"Once it is determined that it is safe for residents to return, county officials will begin to allow residents to re-enter flooded areas in the lower river area," the county said.

Harris said information about re-entry will be sent out via the sheriff office's Nixle account, and encouraged affected community members to make sure they're signed up to receive the alerts.

Although mandatory evacuation orders went out to some 3,600 people, officials have said an unknown number of those chose to stay behind in the hills above Guerneville.

Another 3,000 to 4,000 residents in areas subject to becoming stranded by the flooding were also advised to evacuate, Sonoma County Director of Emergency Management Chris Godley said.

"We maybe have several thousand individuals in that area hunkering down waiting for the floodwaters to recede," Godley said. "Those individuals are being asked to continue to shelter in place."

• More here: Russian River Flooding Turns California Towns Into Islands—Photos

In addition to the thousands of people evacuated, residents of surrounding communities including Sebastopol and Forestville are affected by limited access to area roadways.

Authorities acknowledged "huge delays in traffic around the flooded area." Routine trips that would take 10 minutes under normal circumstances are taking up to an hour. Motorists are urged to "plan ahead and be patient on the road."

Up-to-date information about the status of road closures is at Roadconditions.sonoma-county.org/.

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The first map below depicts the rain catchment area of the Russian River in Guerneville; the second depicts the flooded area:

MAP OF FLOODED AREA:

Patch will update this post as more information becomes available; please refresh the post for the latest.

Bay City News Service contributed to this report.