North Bay residents brace for heavy rains from approaching atmospheric river
As dark clouds moved into the region ahead of the storm system moving in overnight, people in the North Bay were on the move as they prepared for arriving rain.
Santa Rosa resident Jim Piercy was worried about his garage. He made his way to the Santa Rosa Public Works parking lot on Friday afternoon to pick up sandbags.
"We have a creek behind our house, so the water table is pretty high," said Piercy. "The water is running alongside my house. It's getting in my garage. I don't want it to get anything wet, any of my tools or anything wet. So I want to get a few bags to line them up to keep the water from coming in."
Piercy's garage was flooded last winter and he is trying to prevent a repeat.
Forecasters said the North Bay is expected to get far more rain than the rest of the Bay Area on Saturday.
"It's not getting in my house, just in my garage. I just want to play it safe," said Piercy.
Piercy was not alone. A number of Santa Rosa residents were shoveling, filling, and bagging up sand on Friday as well. Tony Ferreira was worried about his roof and the foundation.
"Trying to stream the water else where instead of having it where it's going to go underneath the foundation," said Ferreira.
Ferreira picked up 16 sandbags.
"This is the time we ask people to survey their properties, make sure gutters are unclogged. A lot of the leaf litter from the winds that we had earlier this week had been cleaned up, so when the rain comes, your storm drains work, your gutters work, and the water goes where it needs to go," said Paul Lowenthal, a division chief and fire marshal with the Santa Rosa Fire Department.
He said while there are no imminent concerns over mudslides in burn scar areas, people should always be prepared and have emergency supplies.
"We saw a number of trees and power lines down earlier this week with just the wind itself. So that's a reminder that we very well could see additional power lines and trees coming down, which could result in power outages," warned Lowenthal.
Santa Rosa experienced some pretty bad flooding over the years, including a big storm on October 24, 2021. Some homes were under a foot of water.
But forecasters said the incoming system is not expected to cause any significant damage or flooding.
"Trying to be prepared. Luckily, I'm always ahead of the game," said Ferreira.
As for Piercy, he picked up four bags. He hoped they would provide a short-term fix.
"I know I going to have to do something construction wise. But until then, I'll just use sandbags and try to keep the water out," said Piercy.