Thousands of people were ordered to leave while the California River was rising

SAN FRANCISCO – Thousands of people along a flooded river were undergoing an eviction order Wednesday, while a ruthless storm pounded northern California, flooding the San Francisco Bay Area and flooding the Sierra Nevada with snow.

About two dozen communities along the Russian River in Sonoma County were summoned to evacuate Tuesday night shortly before the waterway passed the flood stage. Forecasters predicted that it would reach about 14 meters by Wednesday night, its highest level for about a quarter century.

Authorities said evacuations were ordered for around 4,000 people in and around Guerneville, about an hour's drive north of San Francisco.

"We want you to leave now," Sheriff Mark Essick warned. "The roads might become impassable and you might not be able to get out, so even if you live in an area that is not flooded yet, you might not be able to get out when the # 39, water rises. "

Potential landslides in hill areas saturated by torrential rains and in areas affected by fires in 2017 also raised concerns.

Earlier in the day, a mudslide near Monte Rio, near Guerneville, trapped a man and a woman before being rescued, messy but unharmed.

"Well I fell in the mud when the tree fell on me … it happened so fast that you do not even know, you know?" Kear Koch told KGO-TV.

Elsewhere in Sonoma County, several people had to be rescued from stranded cars while they were trying to cross flooded roads, including a woman rescued by boat.

Earlier Tuesday at the Guerneville River Inn Grill, workers were preparing by placing perishable goods on high shelves in warehouses.

But director, Andre Vazquez, said the one-story building could be largely submerged only if the river reached 46 feet.

"When it reaches 46 feet, it's done, there's no way to get it ready," Vazquez said.

Guerneville is often inundated by heavy rains and the population seemed reckless Tuesday faced with this threat, said Joseph Chung, whose parents own the restaurant Koala's Fine Food.

"A few weeks ago, people were using kayaks to get to their mailbox," Chung said. "If it gets really bad, we'll go out."

But Dee Dee Rydberg removed computers and printers from his business, Guerneville Graphics and Printing.

"We are preparing for the flood, my threshold is 43 feet," she told KPIX-TV. "The flood insurance generated 800 percent throughout the region.I could not afford to buy flood insurance.So, I put my things away and I go out."

Several communities were also subject to an eviction order in Butte County due to the flooding of creeks. Other watercourses, including the Napa River, should also overflow their banks as a plume of moisture crossing the oceans continued to cross the west. He has already closed roads and schools and flipped trucks and trees from Oregon to Montana.

The National Weather Service has also issued flood warnings and flash flood alerts in the San Francisco Bay Area and in many parts of the Sacramento area, until Thursday morning .

A relentless rain has forced the cancellation or delay of hundreds of flights to San Francisco and the city of Santa Rosa has received a rain record of 14 centimeters (5.66 inches), making it the day the wetter since at least 1902.

In Sierra Nevada, the California Department of Transportation reported that a maintenance yard of height greater than 6,000 feet had received 30 centimeters (76 centimeters) of snow Tuesday.

Several mountain and foothill roads have been closed several times because of the white veil or the cleaning of trucks and cars frosting on the slippery road.

Interstate 80, a major winding road on the Donner summit, was to remain closed Wednesday morning for about 80 km from Colfax to the Nevada border.