High Risk of Flooding in Northern California as Waterways Reach Limits: Weather Service

With a reduced flow on Feb. 19, 2017, most of the water being released from the Oroville Dam is not going down the spillway, it’s broken through and is going down the hillside. (Credit: Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)

by: Los Angeles Times

Posted: Feb 19, 2017 / 11:27 AM PST

Updated: Feb 19, 2017 / 02:03 PM PST

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Officials said there was a high risk of flooding in parts of already-saturated Northern California as the latest “atmospheric river” storm moved in.

The National Weather Service on Sunday said the highest risk for flooding was in a large swath of the region from Monterey to Marin County on the coast then into the Sacramento Valley and Sierra Nevada. The storm is expected to put added stress on levees, streams, creeks and rivers that are already approaching dangerously high water levels.

Parts of Northern California are already on track to have the wettest winter ever recorded.

On Sunday, the NWS warned that the San Joaquin River at Vernalis “has reached danger stage. Greater risk for levee problems.”

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