Coastal Flood — Northern Humboldt Coast, California

2026-01-02 · Northern Humboldt Coast, California

Event narrative

Nearly every street flooded in the community of King Salmon. Two businesses and two homes experienced flooding during the highest tide. The high tide reached a record of 10.01 FT MLLW at the North Spit Tide Gauge at 9:54 am. This exceeded the old record of 9.98 FT MLLW set on December 31st, 2005. Flooding also reported on secondary roads in Eureka, along the waterfront onto grassy areas and the coastal trail, and in the Arcata Bottom over Jackson Ranch Road. Water was also seen flowing between storm drains along the side of Highway 101 through Eureka near the intersection with Broadway.

Wider weather episode

Storm systems continued to bring rain to Northwest California in early January. Persistent south winds resulted in over 1.5 feet of storm surge along the coast resulting in inundation of many homes in the King Salmon area. The south winds also caused isolated power outages and a few downed trees. Flooding was generally restricted to the typical flooding locations around Humboldt Bay.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1316533. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.