Russian River Area Picks Up After the Devastation of 1986 Floodwaters

Along the scenic Russian River, LeRoy Robinson’s office building is only a memory. It floated away during the great flood of 1986.

The structure drifted down the highway past Joe Bacci’s century-old lumberyard where more than 20,000 board feet of material was swept downstream, making navigation hazardous for the boats evacuating residents from low-lying areas.

At the popular River Club, the turbulent water rose to bar level, putting a damper on a scheduled Valentine’s Day weekend of live music.

Above his office door at the River Lumber Co., Bacci has scratched the height of the floodwater at 49 feet, 6 inches. Like most other businesses damaged by the February, 1986, flood, he cleaned up the debris and mud and reopened.

‘Could Have Been Worse’

“You do the best you can,” said Bacci, 64, who was born in Santa Rosa but has lived in the river town since infancy. “No lives were lost, and that’s the important thing. It could have been worse.”

A year later, the river is low, lazy and full of steelhead and salmon as it winds slowly by giant redwood groves and past Guerneville, Rio Nido, Monte Rio and Duncan Mills, resort towns situated along a lower stretch of the river that narrows before spilling into the sea. But, residents will not easily forget the series of blustery storms and pounding rain that swelled the river until it burst over its banks in the area’s worst flood of the century.

“You never know what Mother Nature has in mind,” Bacci said. “The river’s low now, but all it takes is a couple weeks of rain. It’s just something you can’t predict.”

Officially, the river crested at a record 48.75 feet on instruments upstream from Guerneville Bridge at 7 a.m., Feb. 18, 1986, eclipsing the previous high of 47.62 feet set Dec. 23, 1955. Unofficially, observers estimated the crest at around 51 feet at the bridge because a measuring gauge there only goes up to 49 feet.

Damage Near $40 Million

The series of storms began Feb. 12, and three days later roads into the area were closed and drinking water was contaminated. When the record crest occurred Feb. 18, seven military helicopters were activated, carrying 400 marooned residents from the Guerneville firehouse. Before the floods began receding, more than 2,000 people were evacuated by the National Guard and disaster agencies. Damage to public property was $7.5 million with estimates of private damage ranging as high as $30 million.

The Army Corps of Engineers said water levels would have been at least three feet higher--pushing it above the rooftops of most downtown homes and businesses--if it was not for the recent addition of Warm Springs Dam at Lake Sonoma as a flood control measure.

Bill Stillman of the corps’ water resources branch said the Warm Springs and Coyote dams control about one-sixth of a 1,500-square-mile area that drains into tributaries feeding the Russian River.

“It would take a lot more dams on a lot of the tributaries, most of which are small, to prevent a similar flood in the future,” said Stillman, adding that the cost would be prohibitive.

LeRoy Robinson, who has owned a sand and gravel company for 14 years, said the rising water tore out the bolts from a concrete foundation where his office had stood, washing the structure away along with two trucks and an air compressor.

‘Save a Few Things’

“I was able to wade into the office and save a few things, but not very much,” said Robinson, who has a mobile trailer office that can be moved quickly to higher ground. “I’ve seen the river rise before, but I’ve never seen it come up that fast.”

Robinson said national flood insurance, which he has now dropped, helped pay for some of his cleanup. Many people, he said, cannot afford the expensive premiums.

“The community’s pretty much back to normal and growing again,” he added. “A lot of people pitched in and helped each other, and that made a big difference.”

Stephen Pizzo, editor of the Russian River News, said flooding occurs regularly in the area of rustic cabins, redwoods and vineyards and contends there was a “silver lining” to the 1986 disaster.

“We picked ourselves up and got back to business. It was no big deal,” Pizzo said. “Some people came out of it better off because of federal flood insurance, grants and disaster aid that poured into the community. A lot of upgrading has occurred.

“Nobody likes this kind of thing, but the silver lining is apparent. For months after the flood, this town was a beehive of activity. There’s been a comeback and a renewal.”

He said the one-time rural river area is slowly transforming itself from a tourist haven and summer resort into a more stable suburban community of Santa Rosa, 15 miles away and one of the 10 fastest-growing urban areas in the nation.

Ironically, the rapid population growth of Santa Rosa is being blamed by many river residents as the major reason for the 1986 flood being so devastating. More than two dozen lawsuits, seeking millions in damages, have been filed against the City of Santa Rosa and Sonoma County.

Negligence Alleged

The main contention of the litigants is that officials have been negligent by allowing uncontrolled building on the Santa Rosa Plain to divert water into the river that otherwise would be absorbed through the unpaved ground.

“Many, many places flooded last year that never did before, and that is the real issue,” said Guerneville attorney Gary Weiner, who represents several of the residents filing suits. “Sure it rained a whole lot and the area would have flooded anyway, but the water level wouldn’t have been as high if it wasn’t for the extra runoff caused by the building of freeway systems and shopping malls.

“This is an issue that’s been totally ignored.

Bill Stillman of the Sonoma County Water Agency in Santa Rosa said the flooding occurred after 11.5 inches of rain fell during an eight-day period on ground that had already been saturated by previous storms.

“We had some earlier rain and the water was high,” Stillman said. “The element that caused the flooding was simply too much water. A lot of rain fell in a short period of time. It saturated the water shed and then came down hard for about four days. This more intense rainfall was mostly runoff. There was no place for it to go.”

Now, one year later, the river that has long attracted tourists to the resort area for camping, canoeing, fishing and swimming is unusually low, the result of a mild winter. Fishermen are able to wade through the lazy current while angling for steelhead and salmon.

Rodney Lamb, fishing below Guerneville Bridge near where several cabins were swept away at Johnson’s Resort, said he had pulled 16 10-pound steelhead trout from the river in recent weeks. One year ago, however, Lamb was rowing his boat through the middle of town.

“I took my boat to the middle of main street to help watch the stores,” he recalls. “During the worst of it, I stayed there all night long.”

Lamb, an employee at Bohemian Grove, an all-male enclave for rich and powerful businessmen in Rio Nido, said the good fishing this month has drawn many outdoor enthusiasts back to the area.

“Actually, the fishing would even be better if we had a little more rain,” said Lamb looking toward the cloudy sky and quickly adding, “but not too much.”