flooding – Enviro Updates

King tides and winter runoff push Petaluma River to highest recorded level in decades

January 2, 2026

Don Frances, BAY AREA NEWS GROUP

An extraordinarily strong bout of seasonal king tides and runoff from the latest rainstorm combined Friday to push the crest of the Petaluma River to the highest point in nearly the last three decades even as bay tides unleashed flooding in Marin County and other parts of the Bay Area before a weekend of rain and high winds.

The Petaluma River, one of Sonoma County’s largest tidal sloughs, had not topped its banks, but water levels surged to 8.33 feet by 1 p.m. Friday, according to a National Weather Service gauge at the D Street Bridge, where the previous recorded high was 6.4 feet in 1998.

The new record was likely to be broken again by late morning Saturday as the king tides were expected to peak amid the incoming rainstorm, said National Weather Service meteorologist Rachel Kennedy.

Waterflooding, king tides, Petaluma River, storm surges

Sonoma County emergency preparedness falls short, grand jury says, warning of ‘chaotic, life-threatening’ evacuations

June 29, 2025

Emma Murphy, PRESS DEMOCRAT

The report comes weeks after local fire officials warned the region is likely to experience a long peak fire season.

Despite years of work and extensive investments to bolster its disaster planning and response, Sonoma County remains ill-prepared for emergency evacuations in the event of another regional firestorm, flood or other major disaster, the county’s civil grand jury has concluded in a new report.

The stinging assessment comes even after the strides the county, local cities and grassroots groups have taken after the 2017 firestorm and subsequent disasters to improve planning for the type of large emergencies that can displace thousands of people at a time.

The tools and protocols now in place, the grand jury found, function only as a foundation for evacuation plans — and those plans, covering much of the region, lack the detailed, proactive steps to ensure they can work, especially along the county’s sprawling rural road network, the new report says.

The panel faulted the county for its lack of modern modeling technology to evaluate evacuation routes and plan around known traffic choke points. The county also depends too heavily on cellphone networks and the internet to communicate alerts — an unreliable method for rural residents, according to the 20-page report.

“Without accelerated investment in planning, communications, and road improvements — and full compliance with California’s legal standards — the risk of chaotic, life-threatening evacuations remains high,” the report states.

Climate Change & Energy, Transportationemergency warning, fire danger, flooding, wildfire evacuation

Staffing cuts to National Weather Service river forecast center could leave Sonoma, Napa counties ‘flying blind’ ahead of storms

May 15, 2025

Austin Murphy, PRESS DEMOCRAT

The short-staffed California Nevada River Forecast Center, a small Sacramento field office of the National Weather Service, has outsized importance to North Bay residents. Its operations are imperiled by downsizing and proposed cuts.

The closer you live to the Russian River, the likelier it is you’ve spent time on this no-frills website, whose wavy, colored lines alert users when the river is approaching flood levels, and when it will recede.

The site is maintained by the California Nevada River Forecast Center, or CNRFC, under the umbrella of the National Weather Service. It’s one of 13 forecast centers preparing “timely river and flood forecasts” for some 4,000 river locations across the nation.

The California Nevada forecast center is a small field office, based in Sacramento. But its work has outsized importance to North Bay residents.

The data it collects during heavy rains helps emergency service officials figure out who needs to be evacuated as the region’s largest rivers rise, none packing a more destructive, dangerous punch than the Russian.

The CNRFC also provides information vital to Sonoma Water, the Army Corps of Engineers and other agencies, as they make decisions on when to release water from reservoirs, and how much.

But now, in the face of cuts and attrition engineered by the Trump administration, that office is operating with a little over two-thirds of its usual workforce. Under Trump, staff shortages have become endemic in offices throughout the National Weather Service.

Wateremergency warning, flood warning, flooding, NOAA, Russian River

Russian River communities feel blindsided by recent changes to flood zones

January 13, 2025

Marisa Endicott, PRESS DEMOCRAT

☛ Permit Sonoma webpage with FEMA Flood Hazard & Zoning Update Map

A change to federal flood zones could affect insurance rates, property values and building, especially along the lower Russian River.

Nick Schwanz went to a Sonoma County Board of Supervisors meeting in November to weigh in on a particular agenda item.

He was surprised to learn, however, that another item, which appeared to be a routine and technical set of zoning adjustments, actually carried huge implications for his community.

Schwanz, a board member of the Russian River Chamber of Commerce, quickly pivoted and became one of the few to comment on an apparent change to the federal flood zones that could affect insurance rates, property values and building especially along the lower Russian River.

“As far I know this isn’t on anybody’s map,” Schwanz said.

Supervisors, too, seemed taken by surprise.

“This was sort of framed to me as technical corrections, and honestly the way the data was presented made it impossible to see the bigger picture,” said Fifth District Supervisor Lynda Hopkins, who represents much of the affected area. “When we have constituents coming to us who received a notice in the mail yesterday and have no idea what it means, that’s a failure of community engagement. That’s a failure of communication, and we need to do better. I can’t in good conscience vote on this.”

At issue was a new study by the Federal Emergency Management Agency of flood hazards in the Russian River Watershed, the first update in 30 years. The maps are used to determine flood risks and insurance requirements and must be adopted by counties to participate in the National Flood Insurance Program.

Land Use, WaterFEMA, flood zones, flooding, insurance, Russian River, Russian River estuary

Op-Ed: Saving rainwater for sunny days to come

April 17, 2024

Grant Davis, PRESS DEMOCRAT

The current water year, which began Oct. 1, has been wetter than usual, with the Russian River watershed accumulating 119% of the yearly average rainfall, totaling 49.38 inches since October.

In the past, we might have celebrated our good fortune and watched lake levels rise only to watch much of it sent downriver to the Pacific Ocean as reservoirs reached an inflexible upper threshold. Today, we get to continue enjoying that ample rainfall long after summer sunshine arrives.
Empty
Grant Davis

With almost a decade of data under its belt, the Russian River Forecast-Informed Reservoir Operations program has been making great strides by demonstrating the viability of this strategy to operate reservoirs more effectively using modern technology and forecasting.

This year, we expect the new method to ensure an additional 19,000 acre-feet of water in the Lake Sonoma reservoir heading into the summer, just as it did last year, thanks to our ability to leverage weather forecasting techniques and adapt how we manage our reservoirs. Add to that another 9,000 acre-feet stored in Lake Mendocino. An acre-foot equates to 325,851 gallons.

That 28,000 acre-feet represents a substantial savings, or almost 65% of Sonoma Water’s annual demand, given that the agency is projecting its three-year average annual water sales to be just under 43,000 acre-feet.

Waterdrought, flooding, Lake Mendocino, Lake Pillsbury, Lake Sonoma, water supply, weather forecasts

Hwy. 37 could be under water by 2050. Here’s how Caltrans plans to keep traffic flowing

September 18, 2022

Colin Atagi, NORTH BAY BUSINESS JOURNAL

The favored plan also proposes the route have a 60 mph speed limit, as well as two lanes in each direction with bicycle and pedestrian paths. The plan is in its early stages and officials haven’t identified a cost or funding source.

Caltrans, in order to keep traffic flowing decades from now, intends to build an elevated road along Highway 37 to combat rising water levels, which are expected to eventually inundate the North Bay arterial.

The proposed project essentially stretches across the existing route along San Pablo Bay and through Marin, Sonoma, Napa and Solano counties.

It preserves travel patterns, allows landward marsh migration and is resilient to sea level rises, officials said in explaining its benefits.

Climate Change & Energy, Habitats, Transportation, Wildlifebike lanes, bike/pedestrian bridge, flooding, habitat restoration, Highway 37, marsh migration, San Pablo Bay, sea level rise, wetlands

Wetlands advocates work to raise Highway 37

August 11, 2022

Dan Ashley & Tom Didion, ABC7 NEWS

There’s a vocal debate over building a better Bay Area, by building a better highway. At stake is not just traffic, but potentially vast stretches of restored wetlands.

When Kendall Webster gazes across the levees and farmland in southern Sonoma County, she can envision the tidal marshes that once flushed water back and forth from meandering waterways to San Pablo Bay.

“And so this whole flatland here was a mosaic of tidal wetlands,” she explains.

It’s a vast expanse of wetlands that the Sonoma Land Trust and their partners are working to restore.

“And you know, California is investing in climate, the way no other state in the country is right now. So we think that this is the natural infrastructure project that the state should be highlighting,” Webster maintains.

To make that vision a reality, the Trust has joined with Save the Bay and more than a dozen environmental and land management groups, urging Cal/Trans and the state to remove the one barrier that could open up natural marshland across the entire North Bay.

Land Use, Transportationflooding, habitat restoration, Highway 37, levees, sea level rise, tidal ecosystem, tidal flow, wetlands migration, wetlands restoration