LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Storm conditions have caused more road closures and continued others around Lake County and the region.

With Clear Lake topping 10 feet Rumsey on Monday, numerous streets around Lakeport remained closed, and a mandatory evacuation order was issued for four areas – three mobile home parks and the area along Esplanade Street.

On Monday, the Lake County Department of Public Works began installing a temporary Bailey bridge on New Long Valley Road, which is expected to remain closed for at least another day. The roadwork was necessitated due to landslides and the potential for road failure.

Elsewhere around the county, especially along the lakeshore and near creeks, the high water kept roads closed.

Scotts Valley Road at Highway 20 and at Hendricks Road has once again been impacted by flooding, resulting in a closure.

The full closure list follows. Information was compiled from reports from Caltrans, the California Highway Patrol, the Clearlake Police Department, Lake County Department of Public Works, Lakeport Police Department and the Napa County Sheriff’s Office.

In the map above, areas marked with the flooding symbol and the red triangle indicate closures; the rockslide icon indicates those areas where there are slides but which remain open.

CLEARLAKE

Santa Clara Avenue: Closed between Colusa and Fresno for an undetermined time due to a tree down.

Lakeshore Drive: Debris is on the roadway on Lakeshore Drive between Country Club Drive and the goose neck.

CLEARLAKE OAKS

Twin Valley Road: Closed due to mudslide

New Long Valley Road: Closed to all traffic due to instillation of a bailey bridge at the slide location.

Old Long Valley Road: Open with slide activity.

COBB

Maple Shadows: Closed at the south end from Highway 175 to Parnassus due to culvert failure.

Socrates Mine Road: Road slip out at MPM 3.8. Down to one lane in this area.

KELSEYVILLE

Argonaut Road: Closed between Thomas Drive and Big Valley Road due to flooding.

Bell Hill Road: Closed at Adobe Creek low water crossing.

Clark Drive: Closed to through traffic from Gaddy Lane to Soda Bay Road due to flooding.

Park Drive: Closed to through traffic due to flooding.

LAKEPORT (CITY)

– Esplanade Street.
– K Street.
– Konocti Avenue.
– Lupoyoma Avenue.
– Helena Avenue.
– Lily Cove Avenue.
– Oak Knoll Avenue.
– E Street.
– Martin Street from N. Forbes Street to Russell Street.

Giselman Street at Lakeshore Boulevard: Closed due to flooding. A detour has been set up: Northbound traffic will use Green Street to Sayer Street to Giselman Street, southbound traffic will use Giselman Street to Sayer Street to Green Street.

LAKEPORT

Hill Road: Closed between Sutter Lakeside Hospital entrance and Lakeshore Boulevard due to mudslides across the roadway.

Lakeshore Boulevard: Closed from Park Way to Crystal Lake Way due to flooding.

Lakeshore Boulevard: Closed from Park Way to 2,500 feet north due to flooding and a power pole leaning into the roadway.

Reeves Lane: Closed at Land’s End due to flooding.

Scotts Valley Road: Closed at Hendricks Drive due to flooding.

LOWER LAKE

Morgan Valley Road: Closed at the Lake/Napa line due to numerous trees and mud slides on the Napa County side.

NICE

Lakeshore Boulevard: Closed from Hammond Avenue to Stokes Avenue due to flooding.

Nice-Lucerne Cutoff: Open with flooding.

Stokes Avenue: Open with flooding

UPPER LAKE

Bartlett Springs Road: Closed at MPM 18.0 due to mudslide.

Elk Mountain Road: Roadway closed at MPM 29.6 due to road washout. No estimate of when road will be reopened.

Scotts Valley Road at Highway 20: Closed due to flooding.

COLUSA COUNTY

Highway 20: One-way controlled traffic from 5.5 miles east of the junction of Highway 16 to “E” Street in Williams due to flooding. Closed from Husted Road to Lone Star Road in Williams due to flooding.

NAPA COUNTY

Mt. Veeder Road: The 3000 block of Mt. Veeder Road is closed due to downed trees and power lines.

This story has been updated with the change in magnitude, from 4.1 to 4.2.

THE GEYSERS, Calif. – A 4.2-magnitude earthquake was reported near The Geysers geothermal steamfield late Monday afternoon.

The quake occurred at 4:57 p.m., according to the United States Geological Survey.

The survey said the quake’s epicenter was located 1.8 miles northeast of The Geysers, on the Lake County side of the steamfield, at a depth of just over half a mile.

As of 5:45 p.m., the US Geological Survey reported receiving 48 shake reports from 20 zip codes.

Those reports came from communities around Lake County – Clearlake, Hidden Valley Lake, Kelseyville, Lakeport, Lower Lake and Middletown – as well as from Sonoma and Napa counties, the Bay Area and as far away as Canby, located in Modoc County, near the Oregon border.

Besides the 4.1-magnitude quake late Monday afternoon, the US Geological Survey said there were several smaller quakes – the largest measuring magnitude 2.2 – throughout the day.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Due to the flooding and storm forecast for this week, county officials have issued a health advisory for the flood water present around Lake County.

Continued heavy rain has produced flood conditions around Clear Lake and other low-lying areas.

County officials said residents should be mindful of their proximity to Clear Lake and the flood conditions in their immediate area.

Officials also emphasized that it’s important to not drive or walk through running or standing water.

Flood waters may be contaminated from overflowing sewage systems. Your public sewer district is managing discharges and overflows with pumper trucks and other responses, officials said.

Residents and businesses with private septic systems also can face overflow or backup situations, according to the county. The septic tank may be surcharged with flood water and the leach field will not work well in saturated soil conditions.

Flood waters can contain unhealthy substances, which officials said could increase the potential for transmission of communicable diseases.

The following general precautions are advised:

– Reduce flow into your drains with strict water conservation measures.
– Avoid contact with flood waters.
– Wash your hands frequently.
– Disinfect or discard objects that have been in flood water.
– Employ professional service for septic system repair and maintenance.

If your home or business is inundated, please contact the Lake County Community Development office at 707-263-2221 and Lake County Environmental Health at 707-263-1164 before reoccupying the structure.

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – California has more children in poverty than any other state in the nation, with nearly one in four kids going hungry each day.

In fact, there are more children in poverty here in the Golden State now than there were prior to the recession.

State Sen. Mike McGuire, whose district includes Lake County, believes the time is right for California to broaden the reach of school meals.

Well-nourished students can learn, grow, and achieve at their fullest potential. Yet, each year, millions of low-income California children who are eligible to receive free or reduced-price school meals miss out on the academic and health benefits of school meals, McGuire’s office reported.

Two years ago, McGuire made significant progress by cutting through bureaucratic red tape by enrolling more than 326,000 students on free lunches.

The process was made easier by streamlining the free lunch system and ensuring students who were on CalFresh were also being enrolled in the free lunch program at their school.

This was a 30-percent increase from the year before and was one of the largest enrollment increases the Golden State has seen in decades.

On Monday, McGuire reported that he took the next step in the effort by introducing SB 138, the "Feed the Kids Act," a bill aimed at addressing childhood hunger by removing another layer of bureaucratic red tape from the state school meal program enrollment process and by serving all students in very high poverty schools for free.

"California is the sixth largest economy in the world and we produce more food than any other state in America. We have to step up and declare war on childhood poverty and ensure California's kids get the resources they need to thrive," McGuire said. "When a child goes to school hungry, their ability to learn, grow and thrive is compromised. School meals are extremely effective at fighting the devastating effects of child hunger and improving outcomes in our public schools."

McGuire said SB 138 will greatly improve the current certification process and ensure that all school districts utilize Medi-Cal data to seamlessly enroll income-eligible students in free and reduced-price school meals.

Currently, most districts do not use Medi-Cal data to automatically enroll students. This bill will automatically enroll income-eligible students who are on Medi-Cal onto the free and reduced lunch program at their school, therefore increasing the number of kids receiving free and reduced lunch.

The California Department of Education believes an additional 500,000 elementary, middle school and high school students would start receiving school meals under this new and efficient certification process.

This bill is modeled after a successful pilot program where 14 school districts enrolled low-income students who receive Medi-Cal into a free school meal statewide.

Building upon these successful local programs, SB 138 would automatically enroll eligible Medi-Cal students into reduced priced meals as a way to address hunger among the working poor.

In addition, the bill would allow for very high poverty schools to serve meals to all students for free by using federal options to do so. 

“Child hunger is a widespread, urgent and shameful problem that cannot wait. SB 138 is a common sense step to ensure more children get school meals, which protect them from the pains of an empty stomach and the devastating impacts of hunger on children’s health and school success,” said Michele Stillwell-Parvensky, senior policy and government affairs manager at Children’s Defense Fund-California.

SB 138 would more effectively identify low-income students and significantly increase access to school meals.

Participating districts in the pilot program saw an increase of more than 60,000 students enrolled in their free and reduced lunch programs, which brought in over $33 million in additional federal meal reimbursements.

If this bill passes, there are 41 additional schools on the North Coast that would likely qualify for a 100 percent federal reimbursement for school meals for all of their students.

These include 13 small schools in Sonoma County, nine in Humboldt County, four in Marin County, eight in Lake County, two in Trinity County, one in Del Norte County and four in Mendocino County.

McGuire is proud to be working with Senators Mitchell, Beall, Portantino and Hertzberg to get the bill passed.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – As Clear Lake hits a 19-year high, local businesses report continuing to supply sandbags and sand for residents who need them.

Clear Lake’s elevation reached 10.08 feet Rumsey Monday afternoon, with the Cache Creek Dam’s releases increasing to 5,700 cubic feet per second, according to the United States Geological Survey.

As concerns for flooding increase, businesses around the county reported Monday afternoon on their stock of sandbags and sand.

The list below, compiled by Lake County News, includes locations where sand, sandbags or both are available for purchase. In some cases, where they are out of sandbags, we have included information on when more are due to arrive.

The list is being updated as new information is received. If we've missed something, email us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or message us on Facebook, @LakeCoNews.

LAKE COUNTY SANDBAG REPORT

Information updated as of 4 p.m. Monday, Feb. 20.

CLEARLAKE

City of Clearlake Corporation Yard
Located next to Pierce Field airport; Access off of Old Highway 53, between storage and Valley Glass.
Limited number of sand and sandbags available.

Four Corners Builders Supply
14975 Olympic Drive
Telephone: 707-994-6277
Hours: 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Saturday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday
Currently sold out of bags with more coming in Wednesday.
Sandbags, empty, made of woven plastic – $0.89 each. Bagged sand available but store advises it’s not ideal for filling bags.

Mendo Mill, Clearlake
5255 Old Highway 53
Telephone: 707-994-1014
Hours: 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday
Sandbags, empty – $0.79 each or $11.99 for a pack of 25.
Sand available in 70-pound bags for $4.99 each.
Currently has  66 filled bags, 34 25 packs of empty bags,

CLEARLAKE OAKS

Clearlake Lava
14572 E. Highway 20
Telephone: 707-998-1115
Hours: 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday
Sand only; cost is $14/yard

KELSEYVILLE

Kelseyville Lumber
3555 N. Main St.
Telephone: 707-279-4297
Hours: 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday
Both sand and sandbags available.
Currently has 668 filled bags  filled sandbags in stock. Filled sandbags are $2.98 each. Fill-your-own sandbags are $1.49 each, with sand also available at the store. Empty sandbags are $0.49 each.

LAKEPORT

Mendo Mill, Lakeport
2465 S. Main St.
Telephone: 707-263-8400
Hours: 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday
Sandbags, empty, white vinyl – $0.67 each; empty burlap bags – $1.69 each. Currently only has sandblasting sand available.

Rainbow Agricultural Services
1975 Argonaut Road, Lakeport
Telephone: 707-279-0550
Hours: 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday
Sandbags, empty, white plastic – $0.39 each.
No sand.

RB Peters
78 Soda Bay Road
Telephone: 707-263-3678
Hours: 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to noon Saturday.
Sand only: $35/yard or $1/five-gallon bucket

MIDDLETOWN

Hardesters
21088 Calistoga St.
Telephone: 707-987-2325
Hours: 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., Monday through Sunday
Sandbags, empty – $0.55 per bag or $13.99 for a bundle of 25. Free bulk sand as well as filled and empty bags for sale.

NICE

Lake Builders Supply
3694 E. Highway 20
Telephone: 707-274-6607
Hours: 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday
Out of sandbags; no estimate of when more will be available.

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – The California Department of Water Resources said Sunday that, as repairs have continued on the Oroville Dam’s damaged emergency spillway, outflow from the dam was increased.

On Sunday afternoon, state officials increased outflow from the Oroville Dam flood control spillway from 55,000 cubic feet per second to 60,000 cubic feet per second.

The Department of Water Resources said the flow increase was a proactive measure that’s typical of normal flood control operations and is in anticipation of heavy storms set to move over Northern California this week.

The increase is temporary and is expected to better balance water flow in and out of the reservoir, state officials said in the Sunday report.

On Sunday, construction crews continued placing cement, rock and aggregate into the area eroded area of the emergency spillway. The work is continuing 24 hours a day, officials said.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – A powerful Pacific storm is forecast to bring not just heavy rain but high winds to Lake County and much of Northern California this week.

The National Weather Service issued the high wind warning, which is in effect from 4 p.m. Monday to 4 a.m. Tuesday.

The agency explained that a high wind warning means a hazardous high wind event is expected or occurring, with sustained wind speeds of at least 40 miles per hour.

The forecast says south to west wind gusts of 50 to 65 miles per hour are possible, with the potential for higher gusts over exposed ridges.

The forecast anticipates that the strongest winds will occur Monday evening through early Tuesday morning as the storm system pushes through.

As anticipated, heavy rain coupled with wind gusts moved over the county overnight. Up to an inch and a half of rain is forecasted for Lake County on Monday.

The rain is forecast to continue on Tuesday, when the National Weather Service said there also are chances of thunderstorms.

The latest forecast for Lake County expects a break in the rain on Wednesday, before rain returns and continues through the weekend.

The elevation of Clear Lake – which is at flood stage at 9 feet Rumsey and above – fluctuated on Sunday and into Monday, hitting the 10 foot Rumsey level at 12:45 a.m. before backing off to 9.87 feet Rumsey less than an hour later, according to the United States Geological Survey.

The survey also reported that the Cache Creek Dam continued its high-volume releases early Monday, with 4,320 feet per second being let out of the dam at around 1:30 a.m.

Regarding area roadways, New Long Valley Road east of Clearlake Oaks is set to fully close at 9 a.m. Monday to facilitate a temporary bridge installation. County officials said the road should reopen by Tuesday evening.

Caltrans’ map of the region showed that traffic control had been lifted on Highway 20 to Williams, as had closures on Highway 16.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.