California, 2006

Flooding in California, January 1 to 3, 2006

January 1 to 3, 2006 · NWS STO · 9 events in 9 counties and zones

A series of warm winter storms brought heavy rain, mudslides, flooding, and high winds to Northern California. - Levee overtopping, breaching, and river flooding occurred along the Feather and Sacramento mainstem rivers as well as along numerous smaller rivers, creeks, and streams.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.

  • Tornadoes
  • Tropical storms and surge
  • Floods
  • Wind
  • Hail
  • Winter weather
  • Heat and drought
  • Cold
  • Fire, smoke and dust
  • Marine and coastal
  • Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths
3
Injuries
3
Property damage
$32 million
Crop damage
None recorded
Events
9

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS STO wrote it up.

A series of warm winter storms brought heavy rain, mudslides, flooding, and high winds to Northern California. - Levee overtopping, breaching, and river flooding occurred along the Feather and Sacramento mainstem rivers as well as along numerous smaller rivers, creeks, and streams. Several urban areas had significant street flooding. The Sacramento weir was opened for the first time since 1997 with twenty gates opened. - Transportation throughout the area was difficult during the course of the storms as airports were closed due to the high winds and major road closures resulted from flooding and mudslides. Interstate 80...the main artery between Sacramento and the San Francisco Bay area...was closed near Fairfield in Solano County for several hours due to severe flooding. Additionally, Interstate 80 eastbound between Sacramento and Reno, NV, was closed for more than a day due to a massive mudslide, as was both directions of U.S. Highway 50 between Sacramento and South Lake Tahoe.- The primary weather impacts were due to flooding. Snow levels during this period of precipitation were high...around 7000 to 8000 feet along much of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. - Three deaths occurred due to these storms. A Solano County man was killed by a falling tree, a Lake County man drowned while fishing during the storm, and a Stanislaus County woman died while crossing a flooding stream on foot.- Counties declared in need of federal disaster assistance include: Alpine, Amador, Butte, Colusa, El Dorado, Lake, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Sacramento, San Joaquin, Shasta, Solano, Sutter, Yolo, and Yuba.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Sacramento, CA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 31, 10:00 PM PST, 2 hours earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Dec 31, 10:00 PM PST, 2 hours before
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The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

9 flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flood, Solano

When
January 1, 12:00 AM PST to January 3, 10:00 PM PST
Where
Solano County, Countywide
Deaths
1 direct, 0 indirect
Injuries
1 direct, 0 indirect
Property damage
$15 million
Reported by
GOVT OFFICIAL
Coordinates
38.350, -121.950

Flood, Lake

When
January 1, 12:00 AM PST to January 3, 10:00 PM PST
Where
Lake County, Countywide
Deaths
1 direct, 0 indirect
Injuries
1 direct, 0 indirect
Property damage
$1.0 million
Reported by
GOVT OFFICIAL
Coordinates
39.083, -122.783

Flood, Stanislaus

When
January 1, 12:00 AM PST to January 3, 10:00 PM PST
Where
Stanislaus County, Countywide
Deaths
1 direct, 0 indirect
Injuries
1 direct, 0 indirect
Property damage
$100,000
Reported by
GOVT OFFICIAL
Coordinates
37.583, -121.167

Flood, Sacramento

When
January 1, 12:00 AM PST to January 3, 10:00 PM PST
Where
Sacramento County, Countywide
Property damage
$4.5 million
Reported by
GOVT OFFICIAL
Coordinates
38.500, -121.300

Flood, El Dorado

When
January 1, 12:00 AM PST to January 3, 10:00 PM PST
Where
El Dorado County, Countywide
Property damage
$3.2 million
Reported by
GOVT OFFICIAL
Coordinates
38.767, -120.550

Flood, Colusa

When
January 1, 12:00 AM PST to January 3, 10:00 PM PST
Where
Colusa County, Countywide
Property damage
$700,000
Reported by
GOVT OFFICIAL
Coordinates
39.167, -122.200

Flood, Placer

When
January 1, 12:00 AM PST to January 3, 10:00 PM PST
Where
Placer County, Countywide
Property damage
$2.0 million
Reported by
GOVT OFFICIAL
Coordinates
39.167, -120.467

Flood, Sutter

When
January 1, 12:00 AM PST to January 3, 10:00 PM PST
Where
Sutter County, Countywide
Property damage
$900,000
Reported by
GOVT OFFICIAL
Coordinates
39.100, -121.767

Flood, Yuba

When
January 1, 12:00 AM PST to January 3, 10:00 PM PST
Where
Yuba County, Countywide
Property damage
$4.9 million
Reported by
GOVT OFFICIAL
Coordinates
39.283, -121.367

What these are

Flood
Flooding that develops more slowly than a flash flood: rivers leaving their banks, or water standing over land for an extended time.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in California in 2006Every state in 2006This day in weather historyWarnings in California, January 2006

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-30. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5488498, 5488499, 5488500, 5488501, 5488502, 5488503, 5488504, 5488505, 5488506.