Search and Rescue Operations in California During Flooding » Napa County

January and March were equally disastrous for Napa County. In one instance rescuers found themselves needing to be rescued when their boat washed away while trying to rescue a woman trapped in waters raging through a vineyard.

Elsewhere in Napa, 200 homes were flooded and nearly 200 deluxe mobile homes went under water in Yountville. Initial losses were projected to exceed $36 million.

County dispatchers reported that call volume increased by 300 percent when Napa Creek overflowed into downtown Napa. With more than 40 calls backed up for rescue services, radio frequencies were so overwhelmed that dispatchers had difficulty giving out the call.

Several children were rescued after attempting to raft the river - several others were stopped before launching and their rafts were confiscated. As in Sacramento County, local rescuers made good use of inflatable rescue boats and a dump truck. “Dump 1” was dispatched to motorists stranded in intersections in several parts of the city.

Learning from the floods of 1986 and 1987, officials evacuated more than 1,200 residents in various parts of the county to pre-positioned shelters. Three Emergency Operations Centers were established to distribute the call load - unfortunately, they had trouble communicating with each other, due to the overload of the phone and radio systems. Dispatcher Julie Hubert pointed out the value of using the media to keep people informed and to pass on evacuation information, while reminding people not to call 911 except in cases of true emergencies.

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