[env-trinity] Eel River Flooding Possibility

[Byron]

Eel River flooding predicted

Eureka Times-Standard - 12/28/05

By John Driscoll, staff writer

 

Forecasters believe the Eel River at Fernbridge will flood today -- perhaps
even rising as high as 25 feet -- due to heavy, persistent rainfall. 

 

Meteorologists at the National Weather Service on Woodley Island on Tuesday
were expecting up to 5 inches of rain in the Eel River basin -- more at
higher elevations -- by this afternoon. That follows a damp week that
saturated soil and prevented rivers from dropping significantly. The storms
also come during a week of high tides around 9 feet. 

 

At least two more storms are set to make landfall this week. 

 

"We have a series of storms lined up across the Pacific, they're just headed
right at us," said meteorologist Jeff Tonkin. 

 

The Van Duzen, Redwood Creek, the Klamath River and the Smith River are all
expected to reach monitor stage or flood stage today. The flooding on the
Eel was expected to reach at least 22 feet. Flooding was anticipated on
Cannibal Island Road and other low-lying roads. 

 

"By all measures right now it's a pretty big hydrologic event," said Troy
Nicolini with the weather service. 

 

Winds will also remain strong today, with gusts up to 45 mph on the coast
and on ridge tops. The ocean is expected to be hazardous for the remainder
of the week, with a big west swell around 19 to 20 feet and wind waves up to
9 feet. 

 

Dungeness crab fishing season is set to begin Jan. 1, a month after the
regular start of the season. 

 

The rough ocean forecast is reportedly affecting negotiations between crab
fishermen and seafood processors. Aaron Newman, who runs the fishing vessel
Maria Isabel and is president of the Humboldt Fishermen's Marketing
Association, said everyone is keeping the weather in mind, and no one is
rushing to settle on a price that could kick off a dangerous fishing-derby
start to the season. No one wants anyone to get hurt, he said. 

 

"We're all just cooling our jets while the weather is dangerous," Newman
said.

 

 

Byron Leydecker

Chair, Friends of Trinity River

Advisor, California Trout, Inc

PO Box 2327

Mill Valley, CA 94942-2327

415 383 4810 ph

415 383 9562 fx

bwl3 at comcast.net

bleydecker at stanfordalumni.org

http://www.fotr.org

http:www.caltrout.org 

 

 

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