Flood — Mendocino Interior, California

2005-12-29 to 2005-12-31 · Mendocino Interior, California

Wider weather episode

A series of strong Pacific storm systems with a subtropical moisture tap began on December 18 and continued through the end of the month. The first 10 days of this wet period conditioned the watersheds with flooding of concern beginning on December 28th. Total precipitation amounts for the series of systems ranged from 12 to 20 inches.While flooding was widespread throughout Humboldt, Del Norte, and Mendocino Counties, the major flood damages occurred in the Klamath River basin and the Russian River Basin. On the Klamath River, two boat ramps were damaged, 15 structures were flooded, and the Klamath River Bridge over HWY 101 sustained 15 million dollars worth of damage. On the Russian River, hundreds of homes were flooded, major crop damage occurred, and widespread infrastructure damage occurred. In Mendocino County, landslide damages are not separated from flood damages.A major impact of this series of systems was heavy rain induced landslides. Cal Trans reported 25 million dollars worth of damage in Humboldt County alone as a result of road wash outs and mud slides, with additional damages of 17.3 and 3.6 million dollars reported by Cal Trans for Mendocino and Trinity Counties for similar causes. The Hoopa Indians reported 8.5 million dollars worth of similar damage for roads on their lands, and Humboldt and Del Norte County reported 21.5 million dollars worth of land slide damage to county owned roads.Also associated with this series of systems were a storm surge coastal flooding event and a short lived but destructive wind event. A wind gust of 64 mph was recorded at the Eureka WFO, and a gust of 97 mph was also reported from a research vessel at dock. Combined damages from these two events were 4.9 million dollars. Damages from the wind event included downed power lines and trees falling ons structures. Damages from the coastal flooding event occurred to shore side facilities in Del Norte, Mendocino, and Humboldt Counties.It should be noted that damages estimates are still being refined by all parties contacted for dollar estimates.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5487885. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.