Avenue Vine

The levees, constructed 50 years ago by the federal government, have been decaying for years and landowners say the fields flood with regularity.

"There was a lot of water this year, the city of Sonoma has developed and Sonoma Creek is the storm drain," said Joe Leveroni, whose family owns about 1,000 acres that is flooded. "Flooding down here is very common, it is more common than the Russian River."

The flooding covers about 4,000 acres of farm land and vineyards and surrounds the Larson Family Winery but doesn't threaten homes.

Some of the land has been flooded since Dec. 31. Water receded in other areas but came back with heavy weekend rain and rising tides.

Rain also caused Sonoma Creek to overflow near Highway 121, flooding the thoroughfare south of Sonoma until late Monday morning.

"It was deep enough that there was two feet of water on the side, although it barely covered the crown of the road," said Capt. Ray Mulas of the Schell-Vista Fire District, whose station backs up to Highway 121.

Mulas' family has 800 acres that flooded.

Mulas said the flooding was not as bad as the New Year's Eve storm, which caused new failures in the levees, closed Highway 121 for about a week and threatened homes on the north side of highway.

There's a chance of more rain this week though nothing major is in the forecast.

Farmers say the repeat flooding is costing them money - the Leveroni and Mulas families lost thousands of tons of hay. It's also an inconvenience to motorists when the road floods in Schellville.

"It is a communitywide issue," said Leandra Swent of the Southern Sonoma County Resource Conservation District. "Emergency services can't get through, we have a fire station that can't get trucks out and our farmers are losing crops. During the New Years's Eve storm, Mulas' cows were up to their udders in water."

The levees were constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers about 50 years ago to drain San Francisco Bay tidal wetlands for agricultural use, and individual landowners have added to them since.

Who has responsibility for maintaining the levees, and Sonoma Creek which flows through the farmland, is a bone of contention between landowners and government agencies.

Ron Benkert of the Sonoma County Water Agency said the federal government turned the levees over to the landowners for maintenance.

When the county formed flood control districts in 1965, Benkert said the landowners opted not to join, which would have cost them $200 per year. The county raises $7.3 million a year for flood control throughout the county.

"Those people are screaming for maintenance but the bottom line is they didn't allocate any money for maintenance," Benkert said. "The landowners are on the hook."

Benkert said that the agency doesn't even have permission from many of the property owners to clear Sonoma Creek as it goes through their property.

"The channelization of the creeks and the sediment that is flowing down, that is a recipe for disaster," Benkert said.

Ironically, since the farmland acts as a flood basin, fixing the levees would probably make upstream flooding that affects Highway 121 even worse, Benkert said.

Fire Chief Mitch Mulas, whose parents began farming the area in 1936, believes the area should be annexed to the flood control district.

"We have been taking the brunt of that water coming down Sonoma Creek," he said.

The hydrology of the area is being studied by the conservation district, using $1.4 million in funding from state, county and federal agencies. The goal is to come up with options for lessening the flooding, Swent said. The study is expected to take two years.

Swent said the options could include repairing or removing levees and work on culverts.

Source: “Schellville area floods,” Bob Norberg, Press Democrat, March 7, 2006

Additional Aeticles:
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“Wine Country Flood Warnings Abated,” March 06, 2006