SANTA ROSA, Calif. – Flood warning signs were already stacked up on the side of the road Wednesday, as officials in the North Bay prepared for the next big storm to descend on the already saturated region.
“If they know places that are going to flood, roads that commonly flood, they’ll put signs up. At least where I live up in the country,” Janell O’Connor of Healdsburg said.
One area that has been a trouble spot twice already this year, is part of Airway Road in Santa Rosa, where a culvert overflowed twice, trapping patients in a hospital and guests in a Hampton Inn hotel. In November, cars were submerged in the parking lot and patients were evacuated due to high waters. Last week, fire crews said flooding at the same place led crews to rescue five people from the nearby hospital.…