36 hours: Atmospheric River Has Already Dropped 5″ of Rain

The weather forecast predicts up to six to nine inches of rain over the next week, beginning Wednesday. With an Atmospheric River on the way, the City of Sonoma advises residents to take time to prepare for the rainy season ahead.

The US National Weather Service San Francisco Bay Area/Monterey California has issued a Wind Advisory from Tuesday night, November 19th, to Friday, November 22nd and a Flood Watch from Wednesday morning, November 20th, to Friday morning, November 22nd. A storm is expected to bring over 6 inches of rain and strong winds to the City of Sonoma. While soils will absorb much of the rainfall, urban and small-stream flooding is possible, and weak trees and branches may fall, leading to power outages.

After the first day and night of rain, this is how the parking lot at Safeway looked.

Sand to fill sandbags is currently available to residents at Depot Park. If your property has a history of flooding, please don’t wait for a storm to prepare sandbags. Sandbags can be prepared and kept on hand throughout the winter. Free sandbags are now available to City residents at City Hall during normal business hours, limit of 10 bags per resident while supplies last. Additional bags are available for purchase at Friedman’s Home Improvement Center (1360 Broadway).

Free sand is also available to City residents in the parking lot at Depot Park (270 1st ST W). The sandbag filling station at Depot Park is self-serve; please bring your own shovel. Read our Sandbag Instructions to learn how to fill, stack, and construct sandbags properly.

Curious about local rainfall totals? Sonoma.OneRain.com is where you can find real-time rainfall, river-stream & reservoir data.

Visit the city’s Emergency Preparedness page for more information including an Emergency Supplies Checklist and visit Ready.gov/floods to learn more about how you can protect yourself, your family, and your community in the event of flooding. To stay up to date on emergency notifications, make sure to sign up for SoCo Alerts and Nixle.