5-Day Storm Pushes Russian River to Brink

So yeah, these back-to-back storms have turned out to be a real slog. At least 7 or 8 inches of rain have fallen in Healdsburg since it started coming down on Friday, and the wind gusts got pretty severe at times as well. There was also an “uncommon” amount of lightning, meteorologists tell the Press Democrat, along with some falling trees and power outages — although we’re all pretty jaded from that last storm a couple weeks before. This time, the Russian River did come within about a foot of jumping its banks in at least one spot along its route through Healdsburg, according to data from the National Weather Service, but it’s settling back down now. Those super flood-prone country roads just southwest of Healdsburg did end up flooding really bad, as predicted — and one person got their car stuck in the floodwaters on Wohler Road, near where a woman died last year, according to local fire officials. They posted a pic of the stranded car on Facebook, writing: Once again, we would like to emphasize TURN AROUND, DONT DROWN. Luckily this driver made it to dry ground with the assistance of 1st responders.” The driver “had to be pulled from their vehicle by first responders,” the PD reports, and “the vehicle was tagged and left at the scene.” (Source: National Weather Service & Sonoma County Fire District via Facebook & Sonoma County Fire District via Facebook & Press Democrat; paywall)