Heavy rain causes mudslide in Sonoma County; Highway 121 temporarily shutdown
By Andrea Nakano
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California (KPIX) — As the storm dumped rain in the North Bay, a mudslide forced the closure of Silverado Trail in Napa County Friday.
The rain also created a mess on Highway 121, shutting down the roadway near the city of Sonoma.
Crews had quite a mudslide to clean up on Silverado Trail between Oak Knoll Road and Yountville. Just around 2 Friday afternoon, the hillside gave way and closed Highway 29 for nearly four hours.
Napa County Assistant Public Works Superintendent Dave Cardwell had a unique way to describe the debris flow.
“Like chocolate milk,” he said. “Like chocolate pudding.”
Crews removed the mud and installed K rails before opening up the road. The hillside above was being prepped to become another vineyard.
“There was no really rocks in the material,” Cardwell said. “It was a vineyard that was being installed, so it had all very nice soil that they had just reworked.”
The Napa River wasn’t expected to reach flood stage, but the Oxbow Flood Gates were closed after the river reached a trigger point of 20 feet at Oak Knoll.
Near the town of Sonoma, Highway 121 was closed as Sonoma Creek has overflowed onto the roadway. Some of the surrounding streets were closed as well.
“Floods right here and trees and branches in the road, it’s been exciting,” said Napa resident Jack Parodi.
Parodi said he’s been making the commute for about 30 years. He’s seen his share of bad storms and knows all about Highway 121 shutting down.
“Me driving back and forth from work in Santa Rosa to home in Napa, it’s just been very crazy,” he said.
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