The body of an unidentified male of an unknown age was discovered in the waters of the extremely flooded roads of Santa Rosa early Thursday morning, bringing the death toll to two as Sonoma County continues to get walloped by rain.

Sonoma County has probably seen the worst of this week’s severe rains and flooding, and evacuation orders have been in effect where at least one home was destroyed near the Russian River.

The Russian River does not go directly through Santa Rosa, it’s about 10 miles away. But the images below from the California Highway Patrol show that things are pretty flooded in Santa Rosa, too, from overflowing creeks and low-lying areas.


NBC Bay Area reports that two people have died in the last 18 hours because of the flooded roads. The first victim was found in a culvert, that is, a water tunnel beneath the road, on the 7700 block of Santa Rosa’s Franz Valley Road. That man has not been identified. Checking Street View, that would appear to be the culvert seen below, shown in less rainy times.

Image: Google Street View

KRON4 now has the tragic news that a second body was pulled from the heavily flooded streets of Santa Rosa. The Santa Rosa Fire Department told KRON4 that this was a “storm-related tragedy,” and speculated to KGO that the victim may have been riding a bike.


The attempted rescue mission started around 5:45 am Thursday morning after reports of a missing person. The National Guard was already nearby dealing with other situations, and used a high-profile truck that sits higher off the ground than most vehicles to navigate the flood waters and search for the person.

They discovered the body on one of the city’s flooded roadways. KGO just reports that the victim was found on Sanford Road in West Santa Rosa. The victim’s name and age have not yet been disclosed, only that it was a male victim.


KGO points out there have been at least five landslides in the North Bay area since Tuesday. Over at the Russian River, KRON4 reports that the water levels at the river dropped about three feet overnight, but are still one foot above what is considered flood stage.

Related: Landslide Destroys Sonoma County Home Rebuilt After 2017 Tubbs Fire [SFist]

Image: @CHPSantaRosa via Twitter