I’m not really concerned about the world’s end (it’s supposed to arrive next week) but I do worry about the Russian River this time of year. In Guerneville instead of the end of existence we have floods.
The Russian River has flooded six times before Christmas Day in Sonoma County going back to 1940, when it reached nearly 47 feet in Guerneville. The last pre-holiday flood was in 1983, when the water rose to 34 feet in Guerneville, not a huge deal but high enough to flush out some of the lower-lying trailer parks.
Another pre-Christmas scare occurred in 1950 but at just under 35 feet it wasn’t the end of the world. The December floods of 1955 came closer to that.
The River actually flooded twice before Christmas that year starting with a 39-foot crest on Dec. 19.
“Scores of inhabitants were marooned in their homes with roads transformed into unsurpassable streams,” reported the Sebastopol Times.
A week later the River crested at nearly 48 feet in Guerneville, and more than 26 feet in Healdsburg, the third highest flood on record.
The local papers covered it as a major disaster. In Sebastopol the Times reported the Barlow apple plant on Morris St. “engulfed in five feet of water, imperiling some 10,000 cases of apple sauce.”
Down the road the city sewage plant was “a very pitiful sight,” its holding ponds and treatment plant inundated by the Laguna de Santa Rosa.
The Red Cross set up a relief center at Sebastopol City Hall but most of the relief efforts focused on Guerneville, reported to be “in a state of true emergency.”
It was noted that the Red Cross relief in Sebastopol City Hall was not in great demand, apparently owing to an outpouring of help and generosity by flood victims’ friends, neighbors and relatives.
It was as though the flood kicked holiday spirits up a notch or two. Reading the local disaster coverage you get the impression the flood’s aftermath was almost more fun than the holiday. It was like a relief effort of its own, offering a heightened spirit of Christmas more real and immediate: people were opening their arms and even their homes to friends, neighbors and total strangers who were suddenly out of house and home.
In Graton members of the Graton Community Club prepared to receive flood evacuees in their clubhouse on Graton Road. The Frei Brothers and R.E. Oehlman sent cots and mattresses. People volunteered “money, food, clothing and time,” wrote Mrs. Jack Robertson in her Graton column for the Sebastopol Times.
“The Graton Baptist Church volunteered bags of candy for everyone,” wrote Robertson, and volunteers were busy gathering toys and food to serve “a real Christmas turkey dinner.”
In Guerneville residents “put aside their Christmas plans and joined in the work of feeding, clothing and sheltering those victimized by the flood,” the Times reported.
With the help of the Santa Rosa Red Cross, “650 pounds of turkey, with 60 pounds of dressing … were baked by a Santa Rosa caterer and taken by heated truck to the Guerneville Veterans Hall.”
The spirit of cooperation “was simply wonderful,” said Mrs. Milton Flesher, president of the Graton Community Club.“People were generous beyond belief.”
There was one fatality in 1955. James Foreman, a Windsor rancher, was reportedly drowned while attempting to ride his horse across a flooded section of Mark West Station Road. The Healdsburg Tribune said that Foreman was looking for a telephone line.
In Healdsburg the paper’s headlines spoke of topsoil washed away, fruit trees destroyed and dozens of rural houses flooded out. “Early estimates indicate that some 45 persons were evacuated from flooded homes in the area west of Healdsburg and Alexander Valley ,” wrote the Tribune.
Jake Matthiesen had a dairy on Hassett Lane off Fitch Mountain Road and had to evacuate his cows, which meant “swimming them out,” reported the Tribune.
“Two small boats were used, with the calves and heifers the first to be brought out,” reported the Trib.
“Many of the animals could not get their footing on the slick road, and had to be dragged up the road, almost lifeless. Rolled over on their briskets and given a few minutes rest, they were on their feet,” and able to make the walk to Melvin Hammack’s corral.
“Eighteen head were brought across before dark, when rescue operations were halted,” said the Tribune. “The herd bull and eleven cows left at the ranch survived the flood, but eleven cows, a heifer and a calf were lost. One heifer swam half a mile to the Fredson Winery on Highway 101.”
In Geyserville 35 residents were evacuated by boats and helicopters. “Most of the homes on River Road, Railroad Avenue and some on Bosch and Walden were flooded,” said the paper.
The relief stories conveyed a an amazing resourcefulness and generosity. “Flood Victims mattresses dried in dehydrator,” reported one Tribune story.
Sidney Grove, manager of the Healdsburg Sonoma District Cooperative fruit dryer on Hayden Street “threw open its plant facilities to flood victims of the Guerneville Rio Nido and Monte Rio area,” reported the Tribune.
“The first load of water-soaked mattresses were delivered on Wednesday afternoon by Ed Magliocco of the Rio Nido resort.”
The wet mattresses were dried in the deydrators tunnels.
“The facilities at the Cooperative Dryer are being used without charge, the city of Healdsburg is furnishing the power and the American Red Cross is paying for the gas,” said the paper. “Approximately 75 mattresses were delivered yesterday.”
What’s changed in the past 60 years? How many houses and people are still flood prone in Sonoma County?
County records say there are about 3,000 private buildings in the 100-year flood plain, most of them along the Russian River and its tributaries.
FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, says there are about 800 Sonoma County properties that show “repetitive losses,” meaning flood insurance damage claims have been paid more than once on these properties.
Since 1998 nearly 250 buiildings have been elevated above the 100-year flood plane with help from FEMA grants totaling more than $9 million.
Disaster officials estimate the number of Sonoma County residents whose living quarters could still be exposed to a 100-year flood is approximately 12,500.
We wish them all a Merry Christmas, assuming it gets here.
Fun when the end is near
There are some advantages to having the world end next week. You won’t have to do any last-minute Christmas shopping, for openers, and there will be no more bills to pay.
On the other hand just when you think it’s all you can do to get through Christmas there’s nothing worse than having to get ready for the end of the world.
In case you haven’t heard, some people believe the last day will arrive next week, on Dec. 21, at midnight, when the Mayan calendar ends.
More knowledgeable and level-headed people say it’s just the end of a Mayan calendar cycle, not the end of the world, nor even the end of time.
But there’s some acknowledgement by others who think of the “end,” as in the end of the year, as a time to eat, drink and be merry because look at what might happen next Friday night.
There’s an end-of-the-world beer, La Fin du Monde it’s called, made in Quebec, Canada, especially for a celebration of the last day. As you’d expect there’s a website (lafindumondeday.com) whose homepage features a counter showing the days, hours, minutes and seconds until midnight on Dec. 21.
The Associated Press did a story recently about experts meeting to “debunk end-of-the-world stories” because they were worried that people were going a little overboard.
The Sonoma County Tourism Bureau, for openers, has put together a package of last-day luxuries available right here in wine country.
“If those who equate the end of the Mayan calendar with the end of the world are correct, travelers have until December 21 to live it up,” said Ken Fischang, President & CEO of the Sonoma County Tourism Bureau.
Towards that (possible) end, Sonoma County hotels and wineries are encouraging travelers to eat, drink (still responsibly) and be merry with one final party, surrounded by food, wine, family and friends, said Fischang.
“We’ve earned a reputation for being a perfect place to celebrate any and all occasions, so why not the possible end of the world?” says Fischang. “We’ve been blessed with the incredible natural beauty of the Sonoma Coast, which is complemented by our fantastic restaurants, vineyards, wineries and cultural offerings. If the world is going to end, it’s certainly the ideal place to spend your last vacation. And if it turns out that we’re all still here on December 22, then it’s a great place to raise a glass and toast the many years ahead.”
Packages and events include:
• Sonoma Coast Villa & Spa: End of the World Package — An opportunity for family and friends to celebrate the End of the World with a group package that includes 18 rooms for two-night accommodations; spa services for up to 40 people; all food included plus a bottle of Louis Roederer Cristal 2000, a 6.0 liter bottle valued at $25,000, along with an oyster buffet, Artisan cheeses, caviar and more.
This package costs $55,000 as a buy-out option or $1,375 per person and is available December 21-22. For more information, call 707-876-9818 or visit www.scvilla.com.
• Wine Country Vespa tours will indulge guests with off-beat treasures of Sonoma County. This one-day tour includes the last appetizer, a serving of artisan cheeses from Bohemian Creamery in Sebastopol (hand-milked, from organically fed goats); the last drink: John Retak’s bio-dynamically grown “Ceritas” Pinot noir from the small but mighty award-winning Porter-Bass vineyard; the last meal: chef Josh Silver’s (Syrah) Sonoma grown foie gras, local Pacific salmon, and oysters from Sonoma Coast’s Hog Island. The last dessert plate offers local olives from DaVero, organic fruit from Gabriel Farm, and Cabernet chocolate from Wine Country Chocolates. Background music provided by the surf of the mighty Pacific Ocean at Goat Rock near Bodega Bay. For more information, call 707-523-2371 or visit www.winecountryvespa.com.
• All Seasons Vacation Suites: Fiesta de Santa Tomas Package — Rather than adhere to the theory that “the world is ending,” All Seasons Vacation Suites is celebrating the end of one Mayan calendar and the beginning of another with the Fiesta de Santo Tomás package, including two-night accommodations in a suite; zip-lining through the redwoods; a three-course dinner of Mayan-inspired food and an “I experienced the End of the World in Sonoma County” t-shirt. Rates for this package start from $725, all inclusive. For more information, call 877-727-8182 or visit www.allseasonsvacationsuites.com/index.html.
• Windrose Romantic Cottages: End of the World Package — Guests can enjoy their last two nights on the planet in romantic bliss with this package that includes: overnight accommodations in the Water Tower studio, complete with a private hot tub, private deck and fire place. This offer costs $99 per night, with a two-night minimum stay and is available December 21 and 22, only. For more information, call 836-0400 or visit www.windroseromanticcottages.com
• The Sheraton Sonoma County Petaluma: First Day of the Rest of Our Lives Package — Assuming the world does not end as the Mayan calendar has predicted, the Sheraton Sonoma County Petaluma is offering a package to celebrate the rest of our lives with this package that includes overnight accommodations in a deluxe room; a bottle of wine and a gourmet dinner for two in the hotel’s Tolay Restaurant.
This package starts from $212 per night and is available Dec. 22 through January 31. For more information call 707-283-2888 or visit www.sheraton.com/petaluma.
• Kaz Winery & Wine Biz Radio will be blending a wine for the “future inhabitants” of Earth on Thursday, Dec. 20. A BBQ fit for a “last meal” will be served. Guests will then take a trip to the Wine Biz Radio station where they will have a microphone to “get their message” out to the world. For more information, or to sign up for the last “sipper” call 877-833-2536 or visit www.kazwinery.com.
• Sheldon Wines will be hosting a Winter Masquerade “Celebrate the Night/Return of the Light” party, with live music and belly dancers. Fire dancers will “entice the Gods to show mercy and let the sun rise again.” There will be wine on tap, gourmet food trucks and Heritage Public House will pour local brews for guests to enjoy. For more information, call 865-6755 or visit www.sheldonwines.com.
