Monday, January 15, 2024
UPDATE: Local Emergency Declared Due to Storm Damage
Posted By Kimberly Wear @kimberly_wear on Mon, Jan 15, 2024 at 3:04 PM
Humboldt County Sheriff William Honsal has declared a local emergency due to the “significant impact of floods” during this past weekend's storm, the first step toward being able to request state and federal assistance.
“Significant flooding of small creeks and streams, as well as main stem flooding of the Mad River began on Friday, Jan. 12,” a new release today states. “The extensive flooding resulted in numerous flood rescue operations, extensive damage to local infrastructure, including damage to numerous culverts, cracking, slip outs, and degradation of county-maintained roads, as well as damage to numerous private residences, businesses, and agricultural land; these impacts are exhausting and exceeding available county resources.”
Anyone who experienced damage is encouraged to work with their insurance to file claims, the release states, noting the local proclamation “does not guarantee individual or financial assistance for damages incurred during the flooding event.”
They are also asked to report damage to the Humboldt County Office of Emergency Services (OES) by filling out the January 2024 Flooding Damage Report form here. Those reports will be used to assess damage sustained across the county.
“Though the immediate response has subsided, Humboldt County Public Works crews are still actively engaged in conducting emergency road repairs, exploring options for alternative routes, and cleaning up storm and flood debris along public rights of way,” the release states.
Find the full release at the bottom of this post.
This weekend’s storm system dropped record amounts of rain on Saturday, pushing the Mad River to its highest levels in 60 years and closing down roadways across the county, including U.S. Highway 101 at two points, due to flooding.
How many people were displaced due to flooding, the locations of the areas worst hit and estimates for the extent of damage countywide were not immediately available from the county Office of Emergency Services but more information is expected tomorrow, according to Sheriff William Honsal.
“We are doing damage assessments right now for the lower Mad River areas,” he said in a text to the Journal. “There was damage to some homes, but mostly damage to roadways and infrastructure. We will get some preliminary numbers tomorrow and consider declaring a local emergency based upon the initial damage assessments.”
The Mad River peaked at 27.26 feet at 8:15 p.m. on Saturday, with surrounding areas from Blue Lake to Tyee City and the Arcata Bottoms being inundated as a result, according to the NOAA hydrologic prediction service.
Flood stage for the Mad River is 22 feet, with 24 feet considered moderate flood stage and 28 feet major flood stage.
In a social media post, OES described it as the “most significant flooding of the Mad River since 1964.”
The Eureka office of the National Weather Service reported Saturday's rainfall total of 2.45 inches at Woodley Island broke the Jan. 13 record of 2.22 inches set back in 1913.
Precipitation totals over 72 hours in other areas of the region hit 5.38 inches in Orick, 4.21 inches in Bayside, 4.13 inches in Willow Creek and 3.54 inches in Trinidad.
While more rain is in the forecast Tuesday into Wednesday, flooding is not, according to NWS meteorologist Doug Boushey, who says rain levels will not be to the “magnitude that we saw over the weekend.”
Less clear is the potential impact of a stronger system in the series that is anticipated to hit this upcoming weekend, Boushey says, adding that the system is tracking like it will hit land in the Southern Humboldt area and into Mendocino County, or even possibly down in the Bay Area.
“It doesn't look like it’s going to be a repeat but we are keeping tabs on that,” he says.
Caltrans and various fire departments reported flooded roads across the county. At points Saturday evening, U.S. Highway 101 was completely shut down north of Orick at Bald Hills Road to the Newton B. Drury Parkway, while northbound 101 from Loleta Drive to Tompkins Hill Road was also closed.
Flooding also closed State Route 211 at Fernbridge, North Bank Road in McKinleyville, parts of State Route 36 and numerous other roads and streets from the northern reaches to the southern portions of the county, including around Jacoby Creek.
Humboldt Bay Fire reported at least one rescue in the Freshwater area of Felt Road, where crews were able to reach a family trapped by flood waters by foot but were “unable to evacuate the family safely,” with the sheriff’s office instead sending in a small rescue boat, according to a Facebook post.
Find the local emergency declaration news release below:
Humboldt County Sheriff William Honsal has proclaimed a Local Emergency as a result of the significant impact of floods occurring throughout the county.
Significant flooding of small creeks and streams, as well as main stem flooding of the Mad River began on Friday, Jan. 12. The extensive flooding resulted in numerous flood rescue operations, extensive damage to local infrastructure, including damage to numerous culverts, cracking, slip outs, and degradation of county-maintained roads, as well as damage to numerous private residences, businesses, and agricultural land; these impacts are exhausting and exceeding available county resources.
Though the immediate response has subsided, Humboldt County Public Works crews are still actively engaged in conducting emergency road repairs, exploring options for alternative routes, and cleaning up storm and flood debris along public rights of way.
A local emergency proclamation is a prerequisite to request state or federal assistance for flood related response and recovery efforts.
Individuals who experienced flood damage to their home or business are strongly encouraged to work with their insurance provider(s) to file a claim for repairs. This emergency proclamation does not guarantee individual or financial assistance for damages incurred during the flooding event.
Report Flood Damages
If you or your business were affected by the recent flood emergency, please report damages to the Humboldt County Office of Emergency Services (OES) by filling out the January 2024 Flooding Damage Report form at: https://humboldtgov.org/FormCenter/Office-of-Emergency-Services-23/Damage-Report-January-2024-Flooding-223
This form is meant to help Humboldt County OES assess the level of damage sustained by the community. Financial or other individual assistance is not coordinated or provided through this damage reporting process.
For updated information regarding Humboldt County’s emergency response, please go to humboldtsheriff.org/emergency and visit @HumCoOES on Facebook and Twitter.
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Kimberly Wear
Kimberly Wear is the assistant editor of the North Coast Journal.
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