Thumbnail photo by Paul Critz
Del Norte County Sheriff Garrett Scott saw the tree limb coming before it shattered his windshield.
Scott was on the 5700 block of Kings Valley Road at about 10 p.m. Tuesday guiding vehicles away from another large tree that had fallen across power lines.
After seeing those motorists safely up Wonder Stump Road to U.S. 101 he returned to Kings Valley where he almost became a casualty of the atmospheric river blowing through Del Norte County. The passenger side took most of the impact from that tree limb, the sheriff told Redwood Voice Community News on Wednesday.
“Glass blew all over the inside. It was a brand new truck too,” he said. “It’s dangerous out there. I feel for those road crews and the people out there with those limbs coming down on them, and the firefighters, I hope everybody stays safe.”
Though the National Weather Service doesn’t officially track records for wind speed, gusts reached 80 mph in the Crescent City Harbor area on Tuesday evening, NWS meteorologist Troy Nicolini said.
According to Nicolini, the region was fortunate. Had it received a lot of rain prior to the wind event, more trees would have been uprooted.
According to Scott, toppled trees have kept his deputies busy. He said he had five deputies on shift, including one monitoring Del Norte County for break-ins since the power outage took out a few burglary alarms. All the volunteer fire departments, as well as CalFire, were responding to calls for service as well, Scott said.
At Beachfront Park, in addition to toppling trees the wind took out a large window on the south side of the Fred Endert Municipal Pool, Crescent City Manager Eric Wier said.
“The biggest problem with that is when that window blew out… it shattered into a million pieces as it hit the pool deck,” he said. “It went across the pool [and] also into the pool, so that’s a big concern.”
As a result, the pool is closed. According to Wier, it was initially going to be open for a few days after Thanksgiving before a remodeling project put it out of commission from December through February. But since the pool will have to be drained in order to remove the glass, that closure will start early, he said.
“The pool is approximately 160,000 gallons,” Wier said. “We’ll have to balance the chemicals, reheat the water from that 55 degree range to 83 degrees. All that takes three to five days at a minimum to try to get that done and then we would only be open for a couple of days before having to re-drain everything for the closure.”
Pool patrons will be able to use the Brookings swimming pool starting Dec. 2, however, Wier said.
Over at the Crescent City Harbor, interim harbormaster Mike Rademaker said he was still out assessing the damage. But the wind took down a 100 foot tall light fixture. It narrowly missed hitting a vehicle in the inner boat basin, Rademaker said.
The winds also took 50-foot tall rolling doors off their tracks at the old Fashion Blacksmith building, the interim harbormaster said.
“This happened years ago and it led to the roof being damaged,” Rademaker said via email. “So we are trying to get that repaired ASAP.”
According to Nicolini, the North Coast is weathering a typical atmospheric river, however it quickly strengthened to meet the definition of a bomb cyclone. The bomb cyclone impacting the region is expected to strike closer to Seattle and Vancouver Island, Nicolini told Redwood Voice.
“The cyclone north of us is dragging warm moist air from the south — that’s what’s going to pile into the coast starting later today and into Thursday and Friday,” he said. “Most of that moisture is going to hit Southern Humboldt and into Mendocino.”
Southern Humboldt and Mendocino counties could see up to 10 inches of rain Wednesday night through Friday, Nicolini said. A couple of rivers are expected to reach flood stage in that area, he said.
Del Norte County is expected to receive 4 to 5 inches of rain, according to Nicolini. River levels will rise, but they’re not forecasted to go into flood stage. However, the ponding and flooded streets are expected to impact the traveling public, Nicolini said.
“And we will get more wind,” he said. “There’s another little embedded cyclone that will spin off some wind for us on Thursday night. This wind event will have some saturated ground and trees full of water. Even though the wind will not be as strong, we could see additional damage.”
People should be mindful about using extension cords and generators with the ponding water that’s expected due to the risk of electrocution, Nicolini said.
In addition to dealing with the blown out window at the pool, Crescent City public works crews have been making sure sewer lift stations function, deploying generators to keep everything working while the power is out.
Wier said city hall will also be closed through Wednesday morning at least since the wind blew the building’s communications mast down. That communications mast connects the city’s computer systems with its servers, which are located at the Crescent City Fire Hall at 5th and I streets, he said.
Pebble Beach Drive is also holding up, Wier said. Construction crews have most of the retaining wall in place where the road failed during a previous atmospheric river event in January. However, that wall still needs armoring with rip rap, so crews are watching the tides to ensure there isn’t further damage, the city manager said.
Finally, crews are also monitoring the wastewater treatment plant, Wier said.
“The wastewater treatment plant handled the flow as well, but we’re not quite done with this system,” he said. “We have the rest of today and we’re expecting high winds again tomorrow night with significantly more amounts of rain than what we’ve received so far.”
Meanwhile, Scott says his deputies are prepared to work overtime, as are all the fire departments in the community. The county roads division are also working overtime, he said.
“We’ll have people available for 911 emergencies,” Scott said. “I’m using paid reserve deputies that are part-time so we’re still able to respond to emergency calls and operate the jail. It’s definitely difficult still so we’re asking people to be patient.”
