Battered Northern California Braces for More

GUERNEVILLE, Calif. —  An El Nino-spawned storm battered Northern California on Thursday, forcing the evacuation by helicopter of dozens of people, shutting down major tourist attractions and prompting the cancellation of more than 75 flights, but weather experts predicted that a new storm today will cause even more problems.

“This will be a big one,” said National Weather Service forecaster Michael Mercer. “And it’s only the first in a series of storms.”

The storm is expected to reach Southern California by this morning. Although it will dissipate somewhat by the time it reaches Los Angeles, there could still be as much as three inches of rain along the coast. Another storm could hit Southern California on Sunday, weather experts said.

The number of deaths blamed on the rainstorms rose to four and thousands of homes remain without power. Amtrak officials closed three major rail lines and dozens of flights at San Francisco International Airport were canceled or delayed.

In the latest storm-related death, police on Thursday were trying to identify the body of a man found floating in a Fairfield creek. A girl found the victim, a man in his late 40s to early 50s, Wednesday after flood waters receded.

Thursday’s rainstorm caused major problems for tourists and residents in Big Sur. National Guard helicopters evacuated dozens of people stranded along the Big Sur coast after landslides closed California 1.

“They got about 350 out yesterday and another 60 today,” said Patrick Murphy of the Monterey County Office of Emergency Services. “They are also flying in food and water, and a few people who live there want to go home.”

Big Sur resident Erlinda Hisock hitched a helicopter ride home. “We live [there]. We actually really thrive on this stuff,” she said. “It’s a survival thrill.”

In Carmel, where snakes were washing out of the hills and onto the beach, city officials issued a reptile warning.

Just south of San Francisco, homes in San Bruno, Daly City and Fremont were evacuated as a crumbling slope threatened to topple them into the sea.

And in Sonoma County, several half-million dollar houses were teetering above the Pacific at Bodega Bay, after a sea wall collapsed under a pounding surf.

Two of San Francisco’s landmark tourist spots, Alcatraz and Fort Point at the foot of the Golden Gate Bridge, were shut down because of extremely high tides and towering, storm-swept waves.

“The waves have just been crashing over Alcatraz today,” said Christine Powell, a parks service spokeswoman.

The storm that battered the Bay Area Thursday fizzled out in the late afternoon. During the break in the weather, thousands of residents who live along the Russian River near Guerneville, about 60 miles north of San Francisco, were urged to pack up and head for shelters as forecasters predicted record flooding.

“We want them to move while it is still daylight,” said Ann Benton of the Sonoma County Emergency Operations Center.

The river, which has a history of winter flooding, was forecast to crest at some 48 feet Friday, 14 feet over flood stage.

A flood warning was also posted for the Napa River in the wine country, where thousands of acres of vineyards are swamped. And with another storm expected, waterlogged hillside that flank the vineyards are expected to dissolve.

“The whole length of the Russian and Napa rivers is going to flood,” said Dan Klinger of the National Weather Service.

“In Guerneville, there’s going to be a huge volume of water. In Mendocino County and the Anderson Valley . . . the whole place is going to be a lake.”

In Guerneville, the residents who chose to stay scurried about, rushing to stock up with sandbags, supplies of drinking water and flashlights before the main storm front pushed ashore overnight.

The parking lot in the local supermarket was packed as people filled their shopping carts so they would not have to leave their houses during the next series of storms.

The entire main street of Guerneville was sandbagged. Store owners put plywood over windows and plastic tarps on doorways. Some shop owners trucked much of their inventory out of town. Other spent the day stacking good on their highest shelves.

In Merced County, rains killed 50,000 6-day-old chicks.

Times wire services contributed to this report.