Flood — Colusa, California

2025-12-26 · near Williams, Colusa, California

Event narrative

Around 3 PM PST on December 26th, a vehicle hydroplaned and crashed on Interstate 5 in Williams, CA in heavy rain. Initially there were 2 minor injuries and 2 critical injuries, but later one of the critical injuries was updated to a fatality.

Wider weather episode

A prolonged period of wet weather brought heavy snowfall and strong winds to the Sierra Nevada. Heaviest snowfall was observed from 12/24-12/26 when snow levels came down below the mountain passes. Snowfall measurements over the 12/24-12/26 timeframe were around 2-5 ft per Caltrans, Ski resorts, and UC Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Lab. Southerly wind gusts of 50-80 mph were observed as well across the Valley, foothills and mountains that resulted in numerous downed trees and thousands of power outages. There were also numerous reports of flooding in the lower elevations from heavy rain, including two fatalities and 3 injuries from vehicles that hydroplaned and crashed.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (39.1500, -122.1500)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1307988. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.