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Update: Caltrans announced just after midnight on Monday, Jan. 2 that Highway 99 reopened. The following story published on Jan. 1.
A fierce “atmospheric river” storm cleared away from Sacramento and Northern California on Sunday after walloping the region on New Year’s Eve with drenching rain, treacherous winds and dangerous flooding on the Valley floor while slippery roadways and impressive snow totals dominated the higher elevations.
Sacramento County officials issued a local state of emergency following the storm, which downed power lines, swelled rivers and creeks and shut down a major north-south thoroughfare as rescuers worked to free stranded motorists.
A flash flood warning was extended “along the Cosumnes River at Cosumnes Road and Wilton Road to Highway 99 between Twin Cities Road and Dillard Road,” Sacramento County officials said Sunday morning, as officials confirmed a second levee had been breached in the Wilton area.
And while the capital region woke up to 2023 under clear skies Sunday, rain is forecast to return Monday. Here’s the latest:
A person has been found dead inside a vehicle submerged in flood waters in south Sacramento County.
Dan Quiggle, deputy fire chief for operations for Cosumnes Community Service District Fire Department, said crews found the person inside a vehicle around 10:30 a.m. Sunday along Dillard Road, near Highway 99. Emergency workers believe the individual was the same motorist they were searching for earlier in the morning.
No details on the driver were made available.
Rachel Thorpe was driving early Sunday from her home in Acampo to her job as a nurse in the emergency room of the Kaiser Permanente South Sacramento Medical Center when she saw that Highway 99 was closed ahead. Thorpe exited the highway at Twin Cities Road to make her way over to Interstate 5.
“I was following a couple of cars and before I knew it we were in water,” Thorpe said later Sunday, still visibly shaken. “It was like a flash flood and it just kind of swept us out.”
It was still dark. Water was seeping into her car. She called her husband, Jamey, and made her way to the roof of her car. Jamey arrived and rescued Rachel.
“I really thought I was going to die, to be honest,” Rachel Thorpe said.
Thorpe was one of dozens of motorists who were stranded on south Sacramento County roads Sunday as the Cosumnes and Mokelumne rivers flooded following the major New Year’s Eve storm.
An evacuation warning was issued Sunday afternoon for the rural communities of Point Pleasant, Glanville Tract and Franklin Pond in southern Sacramento County.
Residents of the areas near Interstate 5 were told “to prepare to leave the area now before roadways are cut off to evacuate the area,” according to a tweet sent by the Sacramento County Office of Emergency Services.
“It is expected that the flooding from the Cosumnes River and the Mokelumne River is moving southwest toward I-5 and could reach these areas in the middle of the night,” the tweet read. “Livestock in the affected areas should be moved to higher ground.”
The National Weather Service issued a flash flood watch for roughly the same area: “along and west of I-5 to the Sac River, south to Walnut Grove, north to Elliot Ranch Road,” the county OES said.
“Flooding caused by excessive rainfall and floodwaters on the Cosumnes and Mokelumne Rivers may rapidly inundate areas within the watch,” officials said.
Flooding on the Cosumnes River triggered a closure of Highway 99 near Dillard Road overnight, prompting authorities to pluck motorists from disabled vehicles a mile south of Elk Grove.
Northbound and southbound Highway 99 in south Sacramento County “will be closed with no estimated time of opening due to flooding from the Cosumnes River,” the CHP said in a Sunday morning tweet. The roadway is closed from Twin Cities Road to Mingo Road. Motorists were told to “avoid traveling anywhere near the surrounding areas of Wilton, Herald and outlying region of Galt.”
Caltrans made the call to shut it down just after midnight as water topped the road. Fire crews were called to rescue motorists and were still on scene as of 10 a.m.
Dan Quiggle, deputy fire chief for operations for Cosumnes Community Service District Fire Department, said three to four dozen motorists had been rescued from the roadway since midnight as personnel used large vehicles, boats and a helicopter to ferry motorists away from the swirling floodwaters.
Dramatic aerial video from KCRA showed firefighters lifting people from cars throughout the morning, as authorities went car to car in search of the stranded. CHP incident logs reported more than a dozen abandoned cars were submerged while some 50 occupied cars not underwater were stranded nearby.
Most of the people rescued were not injured and were taken to the Barbara Morse Wackford Community & Aquatic Complex in Elk Grove to be reunited with family. Others who did suffer minor injuries were taken to hospitals, Quiggle said.
Quiggle said crews remained on scene, helping to tend to stranded motorists.
Weather service forecasters said the river at McConnell, where the river crosses the highway, crested at 42.79 feet, well below the record high-water mark of 48.5 feet set during the New Year’s storms of 1997. By 9 a.m., the river had fallen to 34.60 feet, according to state water officials.
A flash flood warning was extended and water was expected to remain flowing through parts of Wilton after a levee was overtopped and breached by the Cosumnes River on Saturday night near Cosumnes and Wilton roads.
“Residents have been advised to seek higher ground immediately,” the county said in its advisory following a flash flood warning from the National Weather Service. County spokeswoman Kim Nava said more than 100 residents were notified of the danger, including some living outside the immediate area.
On Sunday morning, Sacramento County spokesman Matt Robinson said helicopter images showed there was a second levee break near Freeman and Dillard roads, this one in agricultural land. The area is about 3 miles upstream from the flooding on Highway 99.
The river at Wilton Road in the area of the advisory was observed Saturday night at 76.20 feet — nearly 3 feet above flood stage and 25 feet above the river bottom — according to the county’s river gauge. That flood stage is set by the levee near Cecatra Drive, which overtopped at approximately 73.5 feet, according to the county.
As of Sunday morning, the river at Wilton Road was 73.65 feet, a fraction of an inch above flood stage.
The area around Wilton, which is dotted with rural properties and farmland, was inundated with flooded roads and swollen creeks Saturday as some residents were ordered to evacuate their homes while others were advised to hunker down for the foreseeable future. In addition to the strong upstream flows, the area received more than 3 inches of rain Saturday, according to county instruments.
Just outside of Rancho Murieta, the Cosumnes River upstream at Michigan Bar crested to 16.83 feet, nearly 5 feet above flood stage earlier on Saturday, according to weather service data. As of 9 a.m. Sunday, the river gauge had dropped to 11.35 feet, below flood stage.
Sacramento County’s Office of Emergency Services declared a local state of emergency Saturday night, giving authorities wider latitude in responding to and paying for emergency services and storm damage.
The county said the declaration was made because of “significant transportation impacts, rising creek and river levels and flooding in Wilton.”
The Board of Supervisors is expected to ratify the proclamation during a special session this week.
Close to 50,000 homes and businesses in the Sacramento region remained in the dark Sunday, hours after the storm’s strongest bands knocked out power to nearly 200,000 customers across the four-county capital region.
At the height of the storm Saturday, the Sacramento Municipal Utility District reported over 165,000 customers without power — that number had been reduced to 45,000 homes and businesses by 9 a.m. Sunday and to a little more than 33,000 customers by 1:45 p.m.
In PG&E territory, more than 25,000 customers were still without power in Yolo County after the storm knocked down lines around Davis and Woodland. Outages were also lingering in the foothills with more than 2,400 customers of El Dorado County and nearly 3,700 in Placer County affected Sunday morning.
Dozens of drivers were rescued on New Year’s Eve along Interstate 80 near Lake Tahoe after cars spun out in the snow, the California Department of Transportation said. The key route to the mountains reopened early Sunday to passenger vehicles with chains.
“The roads are extremely slick so let’s all work together and slow down so we can keep I-80 open,” the California Highway Patrol said on Twitter. Several other highways, including Highway 50, also reopened.
The UC Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Lab in Tahoe reported 29.9 inches of new snow over a 24-hour period ending at 9 a.m. Scientists at the station said snow fell at a rate of 7.5 inches per hour between 4 and 5 p.m. Saturday. Since Friday, the lab has received nearly 34 inches of powder.
Ski resorts in the area posted additional impressive snowfall totals: Tahoe Donner recorded 39 inches of new snow Sunday morning and Sugar Bowl got 34 inches, as most North Tahoe ski spots saw 2 to 4 feet of snow from the 24-hour period. For the season, the basin has received upwards of 16 feet of snow.
The National Weather Service is expected to release more overnight snow totals for the Sierra region later Sunday.
Another major winter storm is expected to hit the Sacramento region on Wednesday and Thursday, bringing with it significant rain, heavy snow in the Sierra and wind gusts reaching 50 mph.
After a sunny Sunday and some rain Monday, there will likely be “some clouds and maybe a light drizzle here or there Tuesday,” said Hannah Chandler-Cooley, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
By Wednesday afternoon, conditions will begin to worsen.
The heaviest rain of the next storm will hit the region Wednesday night through Thursday morning, Chandler-Cooley said.
For now, the forecast is calling for wind gusts of between 40 and 45 mph, but that could change as the forecast models develop and predicted gusts could be more in the 50-mph range, according to Chandler-Cooley.
Travelers planning to head to the mountains should plan to leave no later than Wednesday morning. Heavy snow is expected above 4,500 feet, with snow levels dropping on Thursday.
This story was originally published January 1, 2023, 9:20 AM.
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