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North Bay prepares for possible flooding during rain storm
North Bay communities are on standby for a significant rain storm that is forecast to last through Christmas.
SANTA ROSA, Calif. - North Bay first responders are no strangers to atmospheric rivers, and the experience has left them well-equipped to handle the swarm of storms heading to the Bay Area for the holiday week.
Battening down:
The City of Santa Rosa activated its free sandbag stations on Friday. A lot of takers will come before the storm swarms intensify early next week.
"In the course of those three waves, is expected to potentially reach up to 11 inches of rain. That's obviously a considerable amount," said Santa Rose Fire Department Fire Marshall Paul Lowenthal.
However, it comes at the end of three bone dry weeks.
"That's good since it will allow a lot of the first rounds of rain to be absorbed into the soil, but our concern obviously is the prolonged amount and timing of the first of three storms that are expected to impact us starting tomorrow," said the Fire Marshal.
But, almost a foot of rain guarantees that the usual spots become trouble spots.
"We absolutely do expect ponding, nuisance flooding, likely some minor flooding, as well as the issuance of the flood advisory," said Lowenthal.
PG&E's 24/7 weather department staff, using ever better artificial intelligence learning computer models, says it's very ready.
"We're constantly looking at this model. Every storm we have more data; we have more information about outage areas. So it's always helping us to improve in terms of pinpointing where outages are going to take place and supporting our customers," said Meghan McFarland, a PG&E Public Information Officer.
While PG&E says that the weather it's most concerned about for intensity doesn't happen until Tuesday, residents still have time to make some sandbags.
Local perspective:
Guerneville, on the Russian River, is the Bay Area's high water, high outage capital, but with experienced, prepared people.
"Right now it's not that big of a threat and the river is as low as it can be. Out here it's hard to say. I think everybody's prepared, everybody who has a house out here, they have generators, they have pumps. You're prepared," said lifelong Guerneville resident Ken Mateo.
His neighbors agree.
"There are a few years where it has been pretty bad to where people like you is saying people get stuck in their houses and they can't get anywhere. "But it does recede pretty quickly," said Lauren Bergstedt.
"Sometimes they say it's much worse on the news than it actually is, and sometimes it's worse than the news says it is. You've just got be experienced to be here for it you know," said Daniel Burdick.
Santa Rosa Fire says it's equally concerned about winds that can topple trees or turn outdoor Christmas displays into flying objects.
The Source: Original reporting by Tom Vacar of KTVU