Thumbnail: Monday’s “prevailing weather” in the Del Norte County area. | Courtesy of the U.S. National Weather Service’s Eureka office
The atmospheric river that soaked Del Norte County this weekend caused a landslide that impacted Klamath Glen residents and brought the Smith River to within about a foot of flood stage at the Dr. Fine Bridge last weekend.
The slide occurred on State Route 169, toppling about 15 trees and dumping 300 yards of material onto the road at milepost marker 2.24, according to Caltrans District 1 spokesman Myles Cochrane. Crews removed enough material to reopen the road to one-way traffic on Saturday and then restored both lanes on Sunday. Though they’re still monitoring slide activity, Cochrane said that the department’s maintenance supervisor said he doesn’t expect it to close the road again.
The storm also caused things to slide on U.S. 101 at milepost marker 14.7 near Last Chance Grade south of Crescent City, Cochrane said. Though Caltrans is still monitoring the situation, the highway is still open, he said.
The storm also knocked out power in the Crescent City area for a few hours on Saturday, according to Del Norte County Sheriff Garrett Scott. Volunteer fire departments responded to trees down as well as some slide activity.
There were also a handful of collisions, but Scott said he hadn’t heard of any major injuries.
“It was what the old-timers say was a typical Del Norter,” he said. “The SO was busy and the CHP was busy as well.”
Though this “typical Del Norter” didn’t break precipitation records, National Weather Service meteorologist Jacob Boomsma said he and his colleagues were placing bets on how high the wind would get at Jack McNamara Field. It exceeded expectations at 67 mph.
Other areas impacted by high wind speeds include the Crescent City Harbor at 53 mph, the town of Smith River at 48 mph and the Camp 6 repeater near Gasquet at 63 mph.
“The Crescent City airport was more windy than the mountains, which is kind of rare,” Boomsma said. “The atmospheric river was kind of more pointed at Southern Oregon. They received a lot more rain over a couple of days. Crescent City got some of that, but a little bit less.”
Brookings saw about 7 inches of precipitation during the last 48 hours, while the Crescent City airport got about 2.02 inches, Boomsma said. Daily precipitation in Crescent City on Sunday was 1.2 inches, significantly less than the 2.1 inch record, he said. Gasquet received about 5 inches of rain.
As of Monday, there were still some showers, but the system’s worst impacts had passed, Boomsma said.
Another bout of precipitation is expected to reach Del Norte County on Wednesday. Though it’s not an atmospheric river, the system could bring another 1 to 2 inches to the region as well as gusty winds of up to 50 mph, Boomsma said. It’ll likely pass through the area by Thursday with lingering showers.
