Floods In North Carolina Flood Over 2000 Buildings

Floodwaters that turned two Northern California wine country communities into islands reachable only by boat began receding Thursday as a rain-engorged river finally peaked after swamping thousands of homes and businesses.

The Russian River in wine country north of San Francisco crested at more than 46 feet (14 meters) Wednesday night, Sonoma County officials said. The water is not expected to return to the river’s banks until late Thursday.

Parts of Sonoma County received more than a foot of rain, and the highest storm totals surpassed 20 inches.

About 4,000 residents were ordered to leave the Guerneville area ahead of the flooding, the Associated Press reported. On Wednesday, local authorities said they believed only about half of the town’s residents left.

“We want you to leave now,” Sonoma County Sheriff Mark Essick urged. “The roads may become impassable and you may not be able to get out. So even if you live in an area that is not flooding at this moment, you may not be able to get out when the water rises.”

While flooding impacted virtually the entire town of Guerneville on Wednesday, many residents, having lived through several comparable floods over the last four decades, chose to stay in their homes.

“As long as everybody is safe, dry and warm, it’s all fine. You just ride it out,” Jeff Bridges, who co-owns the R3 Hotel. “People in Florida have hurricanes, people in Maine have blizzards; we have floods. It’s the price we have to pay to live in paradise.”

Elsewhere in Northern California, dozens of people had to be rescued from cars stranded while motorists tried to drive through flooded roads. Nina Sheehan, who is visiting from North Carolina, had to abandon her rental SUV after it got stuck in a flooded hotel parking lot.

“We made a decision to take the rental car through the waist-high water and we got two thirds of the way and then the car stalled,” she said. “Do not try to go through any water over a foot high because you never know what you’re going to find.”

Firefighters in Monte Rio worked through the night pulling people out of cars stuck in flooded roadways and getting people out of their homes as water approached, Fire Chief Steve Baxman told the Press-Democrat newspaper of Santa Rosa.

“We took 17 people out of cars and houses during the night. Too many people are driving into water,” he said.