From last Saturday morning through Tuesday night, the most damaging storm of the 2024-25 rainy season so far ravaged Healdsburg and the rest of the North Bay for four days straight. (And that’s saying a lot, after the other historic four-dayer we weathered in November.) This time around, Healdsburg got around 10 inches of rain and up to 20 inches at higher elevations in the surrounding hills, according to the National Weather Service. Most notably, 4 to 7 inches of that came down on the final day of storm, almost all at once, the Press Democrat reports — pushing local infrastructure to the brink, and at times past it. Wind gusts in the 30 mph vicinity added to the chaos. And while wind speeds and overall rainfall totals were similar to those of the big storm in November, the resulting floods and other fallout seemed way worse this time — perhaps because of the way the rain was concentrated at the end there.
Anyway! In case it helps us all wrap our heads around what just happened, I’ll file the storm damage into three main categories: rain inundating pavement (making for flooded roads), rain inundating soil (making for mudslides and downed trees) and rain inundating waterways (making for rising rivers and creeks). Here’s a recap of what went down.
Rain inundating pavement:
- Here in Healdsburg proper, quite a few low-lying roads and ones with bad drainage flooded on Tuesday. That afternoon, city officials issued a Nixle alert warning of “localized flooding” on various streets east of University, north of Tucker and south of Badger. “Additional flooding along Center Street and in the Riverside Community,” the alert said, and “there is one road closure on Bridle Path in front of Barbieri Park.” Other streets (or just lanes) that were too steeped in water to drive through safely, according to pics from Healdsburg neighbors on Facebook: Healdsburg Avenue in front of Garrett’s, Center Street in front of CVS and Grove Street in front of the skate park (largely due to Foss Creek overflow). Twas a fat mess.
- Even our biggest road, the 101, flooded on Tuesday — thanks to dip in the freeway just south of Healdsburg, at the Arata Lane exit. Traffic was reportedly at a standstill in both the northbound and southbound lanes for hours that afternoon, as well as on nearby roads, while crews tried to clear the water off the freeway. “Please be patient,” the California Highway Patrol posted on Facebook.
- Dozens of other roads across Sonoma County buckled under the pressure of Tuesday’s rains and had to be blocked off, too. All the usuals, and then some. The PD and Sonoma County Scanner Updates put together some helpful lists. To our north, we saw flooding and closures on Geysers Road, Pine Flat Road, Lytton Station Road, Alexander Valley Road and more. (A local sculptor named T Barny posted some wild footage of Alexander Valley Bridge completely submerged in water Tuesday. In fact, Alexander Valley schools were still closed yesterday due to flooded roads and a power outage.) And to our south — Eastside Road, Westside Road, Mark West Station Road, Starr Road, Trenton-Healdsburg Road, Wohler Road and more were all closed. Thankfully, I haven’t seen any reports of people getting their cars stuck in that notorious network of southern rural roads I just mentioned, like in floods past. (Or, god forbid, dying — which happened a couple of years ago). You can check the county’s road-closure website for live updates.
- Meanwhile, down in Santa Rosa, patients at Sutter Medical Center had to be evacuated when its parking lot turned into a giant puddle at the height of the rainstorm.
Rain inundating soil:
- Mudslides have been a big theme this time around. Out where I live, in the hills west of town, at least three of these slides blocked Big Ridge Road on Tuesday. (Shoutout to our local road hero, Jake Delisle of Rural Resource Development, for clearing the way!) Fitch Mountain also turned into one big pile of mud that day, according to testimonies in news outlets and neighborhood forums. One video posted in the “What’s Happening Healdsburg” Facebook group showed North Fitch Mountain road completely blocked by a sea of watered-down mud on Tuesday afternoon. And nearby resident Nick Sindle told me over text-message yesterday: “What a mess… mudslides everywhere. A guy was driving his car through one and got caught. Had to help dig him out this morning.”
- Another consequence of the soggy soil — especially combined with whipping winds — was falling trees, some of which fell on power lines and caused outages. (None here in Healdsburg that I saw, but a few in other parts of the county.) And on Monday morning, south of Windsor, a tree crashed down onto Steele Lane Elementary School, the Press Democrat reports. No one was injured — just spooked. I also saw various posts from locals mourning big trees that fell in their yards. Healdsburg Realtor Mary Kelley wrote on Facebook: “Home to many generations of Northern Flickers, Acorn Woodpeckers, Great Horned Owls, Wrens and other songbirds — our protector from the harsh sun from the south — today was her time to let go. We heard her departure as multiple creaks and groans occurred over many seconds as she gave her final breath and she split in various places … You will be missed Valley Oak of the south.”
- But the most dramatic moment of the Great Atmospheric River of February 2025 must have been when a landslide along the Russian River through Forestville sent an entire home plunging into the raging river waters just after noon on Tuesday. TV news stations across the Bay Area aired footage of the home floating down the river in a heap. (Even the New York Times noticed.) Luckily, no one was inside. From the Press Democrat: “The wrecked structure, an unoccupied vacation home on Westside Road in Forestville, much of it last seen heading downriver in pieces toward the Pacific Ocean, was likely the worst of the damage wrought by the atmospheric river. Trees above the road also came down, snagging power lines and dropping them on the road, briefly trapping a California Highway Patrol officer whose vehicle was under the live wires. … [Sonoma County Director of Public Infrastructure Johannes Hoevertsz] said the remaining roadway was highly unstable and would be closed to traffic for the foreseeable future, as the county worked to assess the damage and design structural repairs to restore the road.” And later that night, another home in Santa Rosa — in the Tubbs Fire scar, no less — was likewise torn apart by a landslide beneath it, per the PD. Firefighters reportedly had to residents in that house to safety.
Rain inundating waterways:
- Speaking of the river. It kept rising rapidly throughout the storm, of course. By Tuesday evening, Russian River waters had surged well past flood level at Digger’s Bend, one of the two spots where officials measure it in Healdsburg — peaking around 6:30pm at nearly 33 feet. (A few feet higher than last time.) And at the other measuring spot downstream, between Camp Rose and the Bird Courts, the 6:30pm peak was 22 feet (just shy of the official danger zone). Video footage taken at Memorial Bridge showed river water nearly tickling the bottom of the bridge late Tuesday. During the last big storm in November, you could at least see the fence along the eastern riverbank near Memorial — this time, no fence. I haven’t heard about any Healdsburg river homes getting flooded this time around, but please reach out if you have information to the contrary.
- Many homes and businesses did flood down in Forestville and Guerneville yesterday, according to the Press Democrat, after the Sonoma County Sheriff issued evacuation orders for “everyone along the Russian River from unincorporated Healdsburg to Jenner located at 36 feet or below.” (Which makes me think FEMA’s controversial new flood-zone maps proposed for Sonoma County might not be far off.) Judging by the photos in the paper, Drake and Neeley roads in Guerneville seemed to get the worst of this storm; one pic showed the Pee Wee Golf shack with water all the way up to its windows.
- Also — just north of Healdsburg, the local sculptor I mentioned earlier, T Barny, posted another crazy video of Sausal Creek roaring through his famous Alexander Valley yard full of cactus plants and cool structures and art supplies, taking much of his stuff with it. Big devastation. For additional storm footage from the past week, check out the Press Democrat’s video archive on YouTube.
To top it all off, temperatures dipped below freezing in parts of Sonoma County over the past two nights — making for some pretty dicey frost and ice on the roads in the mornings. Other than that, yesterday was a nice, sunny reprieve from our four-day storm. Don’t get too comfy though! The rain is kicking off hard again this morning and weather officials are warning of more possible flooding through tomorrow (Friday) afternoon. The forecast shows we could get another inch or two of rain during that time. And while river-level predictions over the next couple days are much lower than the ones behind us, the National Weather Service says:
Periods of rain beginning last Friday have helped saturate soils, fill area creeks/streams, and additional rain expected Thursday and Thursday night [come] with renewed flooding concerns across Sonoma and Marin counties. Areas of greatest concern will be near Healdsburg, Mark West Creek near Mirabel Heights, Green Valley Creek at Martinelli Road, and Guerneville.
