Flood in Sacramento County, California

A series of warm winter storms brought heavy rain, mudslides, flooding, and high winds to Northern California. - Levee overtopping, breaching, and river flooding occurred along the Feather and Sacramento mainstem rivers as well as along numerous smaller rivers, creeks, and streams. Several urban areas had significant street flooding. The Sacramento weir was opened for the first time since 1997 with twenty gates opened. - Transportation throughout the area was difficult during the course of the storms as airports were closed due to the high winds and major road closures resulted from flooding and mudslides. Interstate 80...the main artery between Sacramento and the San Francisco Bay area...was closed near Fairfield in Solano County for several hours due to severe flooding. Additionally, Interstate 80 eastbound between Sacramento and Reno, NV, was closed for more than a day due to a massive mudslide, as was both directions of U.S. Highway 50 between Sacramento and South Lake Tahoe.- The primary weather impacts were due to flooding. Snow levels during this period of precipitation were high...around 7000 to 8000 feet along much of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. - Three deaths occurred due to these storms. A Solano County man was killed by a falling tree, a Lake County man drowned while fishing during the storm, and a Stanislaus County woman died while crossing a flooding stream on foot.- Counties declared in need of federal disaster assistance include: Alpine, Amador, Butte, Colusa, El Dorado, Lake, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Sacramento, San Joaquin, Shasta, Solano, Sutter, Yolo, and Yuba.