Flood of 1986

Photo: In front of Villa Grande store, February, 1986

Like most of the lower Russian River, the 100 year flood of 1986 was the most memorable and impactful flood in people’s memories. At the height of the storms (Feb 12, 1986) the Russian River crested at more than 49 feet, 17 feet above flood stage which is 32 feet at the Guerneville Bridge. Much of the town of Villa Grande ws flooded with the exception of the area between 3rd Street and 4th, and the area in front of the Old Store in the Town Square.

There have been other more recent floods, but none have matched the 49 feet flood level of 1986.

1995:    48
1997:    45
2005:    41.8
2014:    33.42
2017:    37.92
2019:    45.38

The following video of the 1986 food in Villa Grande was provided by long-time Villa Grande resident Rich Holmer: “The video was shot by Spencer and Wolf shortly after the water started going down. It is unfortunate that the video didn’t have better descriptions of what is being shown but local people can figure out most of the locations. The shot of the wire dangling into the river was the phone line that goes across the river at the end of First Street. Although they tightened up the wire, it is pretty amazing to look now at the wire from the bank and see how high the water was.

In 1986, we lost power, phone and then water in that order. The power was out for over a week and the phone took longer due to the wire finally breaking where it was submerged in the river. There was no such thing as a cell phone back then. The water was only off for a couple of days.

Road access over Starrett Hill and Bohemian Hwy was available pretty much through the entire event but was harrowing with landslides, trees down and rocks on the road. Getting across the laguna to Santa Rosa was a problem. Duncan’s Mills was accessible from Moscow Road and the stores in Duncans’ Mills and Casini Ranch were both open (as was the Villa Grande General Store).

The western end of VG had the worst flooding but the area around the Town Square a was mostly high and dry. A note to people on the lower end of town is to move your vehicles up into the area around the square. In the aftermath, people worked together to check on neighbors and to help hose out houses. The National Guard brought bottled water. The County put out a water truck and portable toilets. Later on, they brought a dumpster so people could get rid of damaged stuff. The roads had road blocks and, if you left, you could not get back in, although they might let residents back in if you had a good story.”

A video of the 1986 flood can be seen here: