If a series of storms fueled by a strong atmospheric river is focusing on the North Bay, the Napa County Sheriff’s Office announced Tuesday that sandbag locations are filled and ready for the bad weather heading into the Bay Area.
Citing the National Weather Service, the Sheriff’s Office said Napa County is under a flood watch Heavy rain and strong winds are expected from Tuesday evening to Saturday.
Sheriff deputies say people should stay off the roads if possible.
KPIX First warning again: Current conditions, warnings, maps for your region
Sandbags can prevent or reduce flood damage and have been made available to residents and entrepreneurs at the following locations:
- Yountville Yard, 7294 Silverado Trail in Napa, (707) 944-0196.
- Napa County Fire/Dry Creek Lakoya Volunteer Fure Station 16, 5900 Dry Creek Road, in Napa, (707) 944-8887.
- Circle Oaks Community Water District, end of Circle Oaks Drive, in Napa.
- Napa County Fire/Gordon Valley Volunteer Fire Station 22, 1345 Wooden Valley Cross Road, in Napa, (707) 428-2050.
- St. Helena California Department of Forestry station, 3535 N. St Helena Hwy., in Calistoga, (707) 967-1467.
- Angwin Fire Station 18, 275 College Ave., in Angwin, (707) 965-6551.
A complete list of sandbag locations across the province is available online.
Rain began falling in the North Bay on Tuesday afternoon, as city leaders and people living in encampments braced for several days of heavy rain.
An unhoused woman named Star told CBS News Bay Area that she lived from couch to couch until she met her puppy Charlie when he was weeks old.
When you’re homeless, it’s not always the safest jumping couch to couch, or anytime you’re going with a little puppy,” Star said. “I can’t tell people how to be in their own homes.”
She raised Charlie in an encampment in Napa, where she and 25 other people braced for heavy rain. Star has tarps over her tent and uses solar panels to charge the energy sources she has.
“We’re getting extra plastic, a lot of Saran Wrap, extra tarps, zip ties. It’s just little things we can do to prepare,” she said. “But at the end of the day the wind gets brutal, so it’s going to do what it does anyway.”
Another homeless woman named Maria lives much closer to the Napa River.
“We were here the last time there was a storm. All the houses were destroyed,” she explained.
She takes apart a canopy and uses the poles as poles, creating a temporary wall of bamboo. She and her husband also built a moat around their house.
The rain and wind are the immediate concerns, but Maria and Star face a new deadline. The city plans to move everyone living in the encampment to another part of the park for four months in December.
“Within four months, we can confidently say that those still in Kennedy Park will have access to a shelter bed or a housing option,” said Napa Deputy City Manager Molly Rattigan.
She said the riverside encampment was the largest in the city, but has shrunk from 65 people to 25 in three years.
She says about 85% of Napa’s homeless people have some connection to the city, whether it’s family or a previous place of residence.
The Kennedy Park encampment has caused some concern in the neighborhood because it is a short walk from a field and a skate park. But for now, the biggest safety concern is the coming rains and winter weather.
“They are still by the river today. We are not asking for movement until December, so that is a concern,” Rattigan explained. “If the area floods, it creates a safety issue for the people there, but it also creates a safety issue for our first responders reaching people, especially after dark.”
As night falls for Star, she said Tuesday night that her best option is to postpone.
“You’re not just going to leave your house for a week at a time; you just have to get up and leave it. No! Someone’s going to poke through it, especially since you don’t have any doors or locks here,” she said.
Kevin Ko contributed to this story.
