Napa County braces for approaching storm with sandbags pick-up locations
As a series of storms fueled by a strong atmospheric river takes aim at the North Bay, the Napa County Sheriff's Office on Tuesday announced that sandbag locations are stocked and ready to go for the bad weather headed to the Bay Area.
Citing the National Weather Service, the Sheriff's Office said Napa County is under a flood watch with heavy rainfall and strong wind gusts expected Tuesday night through possibly Saturday.
Sheriff's deputies say people should stay off the roads if possible.
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Sandbags can prevent or reduce flood water damage and have been made available for residents and business owners 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 full list of sandbag locations throughout the county is available online.
The rain was already beginning to arrive in the North Bay by Tuesday afternoon as city leaders and people living in encampments were getting ready for several days of heavy rain.
An unhoused woman named Star told CBS News Bay Area she was living couch to couch until she met her puppy Charlie when he was weeks old.
When you're homeless, it's not always the safest bouncing couch to couch or whenever you go with a little puppy," Star said. "Can't tell people how to be in their own house."
She has raised Charlie in a Napa encampment, where she and 25 other people are bracing for heavy rainfall. Star has tarps over her tent and is using solar panels to charge up whatever power sources she has.
"We get extra plastic, have a bunch of Saran Wrap, extra tarps, zip ties. 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've been here the last time there was a storm. All the houses went down," she explained.
She's taking apart a canopy to use the poles as stakes, creating a temporary wall of bamboo. She and her husband also built a moat around their home.
The rain and wind are the immediate concerns, but Maria and Star are facing another deadline. In December, the city plans to move everyone living at the encampment to another part of the park for four months.
"Within four months, we can confidently say that those individuals still in Kennedy Park will have access to a shelter bed or a housing opportunity," said Napa Deputy City Manager Molly Rattigan.
She said the encampment by the river was the city's largest, but has shrunk from 65 people to 25 in three years.
She says about 85% of those facing homelessness in Napa have a connection to the city, whether it's family or a previous residence.
The encampment at Kennedy Park has raised some concerns in the neighborhood, sitting a short walk away from a field and skate park. But for now, the pressing safety concern is the incoming rainfall and winter weather ahead.
"They are still by the river today. We are not asking for movement until December, so that is a concern," explained Rattigan. "When it floods in the area, it creates a safety issue for those there, but it also creates a safety issue for our first responders reaching people, particularly when it's dark."
As nightfall arrives for Star, she said her best option Tuesday night is to stick it out.
"You're not just going to leave your house for, you know, a week at a time; just up and leave it. No! Someone's going to go root through it, especially because you don't have doors or locks here," she said.
Kevin Ko contributed to this story.
