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Sonoma County briefed on flood readiness as La Nif1a watch raises questions about winter storm track
Summary
Emergency Management, the National Weather Service and Sonoma Water reviewed last winter's storms, potential La Nif1a impacts, and county preparedness steps including mobile-home notifications, incident command readiness and extensive creek maintenance to reduce flood risk.
Sonoma County emergency managers, the National Weather Service and Sonoma Water outlined county readiness for the coming winter and summarized 2024''4 storms and mitigation work.
National Weather Service meteorologist Brian Garcia said the climate outlook shows the region near the threshold for La Nif1a and noted that "equal chances is like the meteorological equivalent of a shrug," stressing uncertainty but flagging a potentially wetter mid-to-late winter if La Nif1a develops. Emergency Management described annual preparedness steps that begin in July and include partner briefings, incident-command post checks and mobile-home-park outreach to verify contact information and emergency plans.
Sonoma Water maintenance coordinator John Niehaus outlined completed projects intended to reduce flood risk: roughly 100 creek maintenance projects this year, removal of more than 17,000 cubic yards of sediment (about 2,000 truckloads), over 4,000 cubic yards of vegetation chip material (about 500 truckloads) and more than 40,000 pounds of trash removed from channels. DEM emphasized the county's Russian River alert-and-warning concept of operations that triggers Soco Alert and Wireless Emergency Alerts when specific gauge levels are forecast to reach defined thresholds.
Supervisor comments focused on data collection and resource constraints. Supervisors requested a countywide review of rain and flood gauges and asked Sonoma Water to consider helping to kick-start a countywide gauge study. DEM outlined ongoing work to expand monitoring points beyond the Lower Russian River and to incorporate model output from partners such as the California Nevada River Forecast Center and the Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes.
Public partners including PG&E described their 24/7 hazard awareness center and coordination with county operations. DEM reiterated preparedness messaging, including the safety admonition "turn around, don't drown," and technical reminders about water forces in flood events.
