Runoff Threatens Further Flooding as Rain Subsides

The first sun in a week lifted spirits Friday across washed-out Northern California, but runoff from the sodden Sierras continued to tumble into maxed-out reservoirs and rivers, threatening new floods in the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys.

Eight days of storms--which dumped up to 39 inches of rain in some mountain areas--have displaced at least 55,000 people and caused four deaths. Gov. Pete Wilson has declared emergencies in 37 counties, and on Friday he requested federal declarations to make swamped regions eligible for disaster relief.

In a bit of good news, the clear, cooler weather of Friday should continue to hold over much of the state through the weekend with only scattered showers in Southern California.

Nonetheless, there were plenty of problems around the state Friday, the result of a week of monsoon-like downpour.

* At least 55,000 people remained evacuated along the Feather River north of Sacramento, unable to return to homes and farms that had all but disappeared under a vast muddy lake near the town of Olivehurst. While the evacuees huddled in shelters watching the news, workers scrambled to repair breaks in the Feather River levees and patrol helicopters swept the area with heat-seeking infrared beams to scout out marooned residents in need of rescue.

* National Park rangers led a convoy of 1,000 tourists on a wet but passable road out of Yosemite Valley after water rose so high that stranded visitors had to use boats to travel between lodges. “This is definitely a flood of historic proportions,” Ranger Kimberly Cunningham-Summerfield said.

* In Wilton, south of Sacramento on the Cosumnes River, residents who fled flooding Thursday slogged home to find most of the water gone--but plenty of damage left behind. Judy Boone found 28 dead sheep pressed against her fence. Her neighbor Eric Andrews found mud all over his parents’ home. “It’s almost an invasion of privacy,” Andrews said as he cleaned. “The hardest loss was the family pictures, because you can’t replace those.”

* South of Sacramento, the rain-fed Mokelumne River ripped a half-dozen boats from their moorings and slammed them into a bridge down river. Officials had to bring in a crane to move the boats and--with the river still rising--said they were not sure where to find dry land to put them. Nearly 2,000 residents were evacuated along the Mokelumne.

* The Tuolumne River near Modesto was expected to top 68 feet early this morning--13 feet above flood level. Volunteers pitched in with flatbed trucks and elbow grease to help 3,000 residents in low-lying areas move their furniture to high ground. “People are scurrying,” city spokeswoman Renee Ledbetter said. “It’s a real good community effort.” Flooding did force closure of the sewage plant, but Modesto’s water supply remained safe.

* Many roads around Northern California remained closed due to mudslides or washouts. U.S. 50 near Pollock Pines and U.S. 395 north of Lee Vining were expected to remain closed a substantial time due to damage. Interstate 80 over Donner Summit into Nevada reopened Friday. Flood officials warned residents not to be fooled by the nice weather on Friday and expected this weekend.

Friant Dam spilled so much water downstream that at peak points, three times the normal flow pulsed through the San Joaquin River. “I’ve never seen water go over the spillway like this,” said Frank Verduzco, who has lived near the north fork of the river all his life.

All that water raced straight downstream--aiming right for the farming town of Mendota about 30 miles northwest of Fresno.

On its way, the river jumped its banks and quadrupled in width, swamping half the town of Friant. By midafternoon, only the roof lines of the worst-hit houses were visible, and the state Fish and Game hatchery was submerged.

Dreading the coming deluge--but knowing there was nothing he could do to stop it--Mendota City Manager Zak Gonzalez began dialing for help, calling up his state assemblyman, his congressman, anyone who might be able to produce some sandbags before the river hit town after dark. “Even if they need to be air-dropped,” he pleaded, “we need them right now.”

Up the San Joaquin Valley, the Tuolomne River coursed along at least seven feet above flood level--and rising. “It’s very swollen, very dangerous, and moving very fast,” city spokeswoman Renee Ledbetter said. Anticipating trouble, Modesto evacuated nearly 4,000 residents along the Tuolomne.

While the main drama shifted south, the northern regions that had been inundated Wednesday and Thursday still had their share of woes. As Steve Martarno of the Office of Emergency Services put it: “There’s stuff going on everywhere even though the weather is getting better.”

Even when reservoirs stop filling with rain or melted snow, authorities must continue to release some water downstream to free up space for the next big storm. So rivers throughout Northern California will continue to run at or near maximum capacity for a few days, said Bill Draper, a spokesman for the state-federal Flood Center in Sacramento. And as the water drains south, the trouble spots also shift, into the agricultural basins of the Central and San Joaquin valleys.

“A week from now, we will probably still have some flooding along the San Joaquin,” Draper said.

But along the roaring San Joaquin on Friday, no one was thinking of a week from now. The focus was on the next few hours--when the awesome strength of the river would barrel through town after town. A trailer park on the north side of the river in the Fresno area was the first to get waterlogged, city spokesman Bob Quesada said. Some 70 mobile homes were flooded.

The towns of Mendota and Firebaugh urged residents in low-lying areas to pack up and leave. And Mendota City Manager Gonzalez sent crews of prison inmates and city staff to build a makeshift levee of sandbags to protect the sewage treatment plant at the river’s end. Yet he could round up only about 2,000 sandbags--just a quarter of the number needed.

With time running short, and the river racing toward his city, Gonzalez sounded increasingly frantic to protect the plant and prevent sewage from backing up in homes.

“It doesn’t feel too good,” he said, in gloomy understatement.

Evacuees up north around Olivehurst and Yuba City spent much of Friday wondering just what had been done to the homes they were forced to abandon when a levee on the Feather River burst late Thursday.

Lola Schnell and her family shared lunch in a Red Cross shelter in Woodland and fretted about the pets they left behind.

“When the police came by and said we had to get out, we just took the kids and the clothes on our backs,” said Schnell, 27. “We had to leave all our animals behind. We just closed them in the house, put food and water in with them and prayed to God they would be all right.” Left behind were a pot-bellied pig, four dogs, two cats and two birds.

“We live way outside of town, and we thought we were safe,” said Schnell, whose face was etched with fatigue. “We weren’t prepared for this.”

Sitting in a shelter in Lincoln, Sidney Dunn, 80, and his wife, Viola, 83 vowed to repair the wood-frame home they built themselves when they settled in Olivehurst more than four decades ago.

“I’m going to patch it up somehow,” said Sidney Dunn. Despite his confidence, he was unsure when they will be able to return to see just what needs patching. “What I heard was maybe eight days,” he said.

Viola Dunn, who uses a wheelchair because of arthritis, shook her head and began to weep. “We can’t stay away that long,” she said.

Others were more sanguine. Retired postal worker Frank Corzine and his wife, Mary, killed time in the Lincoln evacuation center by taking their dog for a walk. Their cat, Ginger, was in a carrier perched on top of the Corzines’ parked car, still refusing to eat or drink water. But the Corzines did not seem similarly put out.

“We’ve been around the block a few times,” said Frank Corzine. “We don’t hit the panic button easy.”

Neither, apparently, does 36-year-old Sandi Espinosa. She said she somehow missed the call to evacuate Olivehurst after dark Thursday, so she stuck it out through the night with her horse, three dogs, two cats, six snakes and two rabbits. She awoke Friday morning to find water lapping onto her lawn. Finally moved to action, she tried to get her horse out of the pasture--but the water spooked him, and he took off, dragging her behind him.

She finally let go when the water was up to her neck. When she returned home, she had to climb onto her roof to stay dry.

Just then, help appeared--in the form of a man on a Jet Ski, zooming through what used to be her lawn. “Want a ride?” he asked.

Her answer: “Absolutely!”

Contributing to this story were Times Staff Writers Frank Clifford and Martha Groves in Los Angeles and Dave Lesher in Sacramento.