Storm floods roadways and brings down trees in North Bay

SANTA ROSA, Calif. - In the North Bay, this weekend's round of rain and wind has, so far, not been as damaging as the atmospheric river storm system that hit the region earlier this month. 

But it has still caused a mess, bringing down trees, knocking out power for some, and flooding several area roadways. 

"We were reading in the living room…and then we saw some sparking," said Bonnie McDonell, who lost power when a large tree came down onto power lines outside her home in Sebastopol on Sunday evening. 

"The fire department, PG&E were here lickety split," McDonell added.    

Police quickly closed off a section of Hayden Avenue as crews worked to remove the tree and restore power to the neighborhood. It took only a little wind to bring down the tree, which is exactly what first responders said they expected from this storm. 

A powerful atmospheric river system earlier in the month left many trees in the region with weakened root systems and in over-saturated soil.  

As the rain came down during the day, occasionally in sheets, several roadways also became inundated.

"There’s a lot of water on those roads, yeah there’s a lot of water," said McDonell.

Ahead of the storm, some roadways prone to flooding and mudslides were preemptively shut down.

Meantime in Santa Rosa, as the rain began to pick up on Sunday afternoon, The Morenos made a last-minute dash to their city’s free sandbagging station. 

"Mom, we’re on it, we’ll be there in a little bit," said Ms. Moreno, who had just gotten off the phone with her 80-year-old mother. 

"She’s got standing water," added Ms. Moreno. "She’s like so worried, and I don’t want her fussing with sandbags."

"It started to go into the back of her door, so we just want to block it off," said her husband, Carlos Moreno.