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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN UPDATED WITH INFO ON FREE SAND AND SANDBAGS FOR CLEARLAKE RESIDENTS.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – On Monday Clear Lake's level continued to rise closer to flood stage, which it's expected to hit by Wednesday because of more rain that's predicted to fall this week.
Early Tuesday morning, Clear Lake was at 8.54 feet Rumsey, according to a US Geological Survey gauge on the lake. Flood stage is at 9 feet Rumsey.
The stream gauge at the Cache Creek Dam showed it was releasing 3,170 cubic feet per second early Tuesday in an attempt to keep the lake level from hitting the flood stage.
Lake County Water Resources Engineer Tom Smythe said the dam is designed to release four and a half times as much water as can get down Cache Creek.
Yet, with the heavy rains the creeks are running with more water than can get down to the dam to be released, he said.
“They'll continue releasing pretty much at capacity,” he said.
Cache Creek Dam currently is releasing almost 2 inches per day off of Clear Lake, but on Monday morning inflow was approximately twice the outflow, Water Resources reported.
For every 1 inch of rain that falls at lake level, Clear Lake will rise approximately 5 inches, and with an estimated 3.9 inches of rain set to fall over the coming week, county Water Resources staff estimated Monday that the lake could hit the flood stage on Wednesday and 9.5 feet Rumsey on Friday.
Smythe said the last time the lake was at flood stage was in 1998, when it reached 11.4 feet Rumsey.
Even with the lake not quite at flood level, many homes in low lying areas in Lakeport were reported to be flooding or in danger of being flooded.
Smythe said portions of Esplanade are close to 7.3 feet Rumsey, and residents there last week reported that they already were getting sandbags ready.
“Some of those lower areas are going to flood,” said Smythe, adding that many houses built since 1978 are now elevated because of flooding potential.
For those concerned about flooding, Water Resources said sandbags are available at the following merchants: Rainbow Ag, Lakeport, 707-279-0550; Mendo Mill, Lakeport, 707-263-8400; Kelseyville Lumber, 707-279-4298; and Lake Builders Supply, Nice, 707-274-6607.
Additionally, sand can be picked up at the following locations: R.B. Peters, 78 Soda Bay Road, Lakeport, 707-263-3678; Mendo Mill, 2465 S. Main St., Lakeport, 707-263-8400; Kelseyville Lumber, 3555 N. Main St., 707-279-4298; Pivniska Trucking, 85 W. Highway 20, Upper Lake, 707-275-3203; Layne Paving and Trucking, 3700 Old Highway 53, Clearlake, 707-994-6324; Clear Lake Lava, 14572 E. Highway 20, Clearlake Oaks, 707-998-1115.
The city of Clearlake also is making sand and sandbags available to city residents. Officials have staged the materials outside of the city's corporation yard, located at Old Highway 53 and Airport Road. An estimated 15 yards of sand is available, along with the sandbags, on a first-come, first-served basis.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews, on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf and on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/LakeCoNews.
