An unoccupied home in Forestville collapsed in a mudslide Tuesday afternoon and fell into the Russian River amid heavy rains that were also leading to an evacuation at a Santa Rosa hospital.
At around 1:30 pm, a home on the 12000 block of Westside Road in Forestville fell into the Russian River as the bank around it gave way. The slide happened near the Hacienda Bridge and near Rio Vista Road, and no one was in the home at the time, according to the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office.
The Press Democrat reports that the mudslide took part of Westside Road with it as well, and the Sheriff's Office says they were conducting localized evacuations at nearby homes that could also be impacted.
The water level of the river is not yet especially high, and the home sat about 50 feet above the water, but the soil under the home was clearly very saturated. The home is operated as an Airbnb, according to Sonoma County Sheriff's Sergeant Juan Valencia.
The Russian River stood at 27.2 feet in Guerneville and 18.8 feet in Healdsburg around 2 pm Tuesday, and was expected to near flood stage in some locations by Tuesday night or Wednesday morning — when it could crest at "moderate" flood stage, or 35 feet, in Guerneville.
The Chronicle reports that the remains of the home "floated down river through Guerneville and Monte Rio as a flattened pile of debris."
Meanwhile, in Santa Rosa, an evacuation was ongoing Tuesday afternoon at Sutter Airway Drive Medical Center, at 3883 Airway Drive, which sits on the western side of Highway 101 — not to be confused with Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital, on the opposite side of the freeway. About a foot of water was observed in the parking lot around the medical center.
The Press Democrat also posted video of a mudslide on Fitch Mountain in Healdsburg.