Heavy Flooding Hits Parts Of Sacramento County As Storm Passes By

WILTON (CBS13) — The overnight storm wreaked havoc around parts of rural Sacramento County.

Heavy flooding and road closures were some of the concerns in Thornton, as water levels began receding in the neighboring town of Wilton.

"It looks bad, yeah it looks really bad," said Maria Sanchez.

Sanchez spent her morning soaking up the sight of the Mokelumne River and the flood. Sanchez grew up in Thornton and says the flooding along new hope road is pretty common during the winter.

"I was 9 or 10. We had to sandbag everything and my dad had to get into a boat," Sanchez recalled.

According to the Department of Water Resources, the overnight rains caused a levee to break, bringing floods to agricultural land along New Hope Road.

It was a welcome sight for Robert Jones.

"Luckily everything is dormant so it should be alright," said Jones.

Jones says the walnut trees along New Hope Road were planted just a few years ago and shouldn't be damaged by the flooding.
But the floods did plug up traffic for a few hours on both sides of Highway 99 with exits closed, and the northbound side down to one lane.

"We are very concerned, we have a lull in the rain right now but we are still seeing some run off," said Matt Robinson, a spokesman for Sacramento County's Department of Water Resources.

Robinson says the county is worried about more flooding with the coming rain.

Local reclamation districts in Thornton and Wilton have crews out patrolling levees along the Mekolumne and Cosumnes rivers, checking for possible damage that could lead to more flooding.

Water levels are stabilizing in Wilton and washing away some threats of flooding, according to Robinson.
But the worry remains in Thornton.

"It takes a day or two for the rain to come down here, all the rain we had last night it's gonna be here tomorrow," said Jones.

The voluntary evacuation order is still in place for residents in Wilton.
County officials say Bensen Ferry near Walnut Grove has reached flood stage; the National Weather Service expects it to peak tomorrow when the rain returns.