The drought starved Russian River is running full Monday morning following a day of intense rains.
The river is expected to crest at just under 25 feet Monday afternoon. While that remains under flood levels, it's surprising when you think the river was at just 5 feet before Sunday's downpour.
"That kind of a rise that quickly is pretty shocking, even for folks that have been around here a long time," Sonoma County Supervisor Lynda Hopkins, who represents the west county river community, told KCBS Radio.
She admitted she's never seen the climate whiplash this dramatically.
"There is no in between, there is no happy medium anymore," she said. "We’ve seen it go straight from fire season into a flooding situation."
Sonoma County Fire District Chief Mark Heine told KCBS Radio that debris such as trees and branches could cause damage downstream or get stuck under bridges. He called the rapid water rise "very disconcerting" and advised people to stay away from the 110-mile river.
"Those banks have been weakened over the last 24 hours of rainfall." Heine said. "With this fast moving and rapid rise in the river we’re experiencing, the threat for someone to accidentally find themselves in that fast moving water is pretty high,"
Hopkins and Heine agreed it’s ironic that the months-long drought actually helped what could have been a much worse flooding event.
"If this had been in December, January, February after months' worth of rain, we might have even seen a worse run off into this river and more rapid rise," Heine explained.
Hopkins echoed those sentiments, adding that this storm during the winter months could have created a "severe flooding situation."
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