YOLO, Calif. — A flooded Cache Creek in Yolo County prompted mandatory evacuations Wednesday evening.
The water eventually crested, and at 9 p.m. the county lifted the evacuation order northeast of the small town of Yolo. But there, neighbors remain nervous about more rain in the forecast.
Cache Creek is normally fairly calm and meandering, but right now it is swollen and angry in Yolo County, as heavy rains have caused it to swell. About 2 miles away from its bend on the eastern border of Yolo, the creek overtopped its banks, early Wednesday evening. Emergency crews were able to shore up the break and stop the breach.
For more than 30 years, Donna Bahneman has lived in the small town of Yolo, just a few blocks away from Cache Creek.
"We've seen it get this high before only a couple of times,” she said. “We've never seen it come all the way up, thank goodness."
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She hopes this weather system doesn’t break any records – or levees.
Her husband grew up in the small town. The two of them live in one of the older houses in town, which was built raised-up, in order to accommodate a possible levee breach.
"We sit in, like, a bowl, and if it breaks this way, we're going to be in trouble,” Bahneman said. "But we've gotten lucky; it breaks toward Woodland and doesn't come this direction, and Woodland's a ways away, so it doesn't hit the town."
She teaches at Woodland Community College and was talking with students, Wednesday, when they started getting alerts on their phone about evacuations near Yolo. Bahneman decided to head home to check on her home and five pets.
“The last five years is the first we’ve been in a flood zone because we’ve never had to have flood insurance before,” Bahneman explained, adding that flood insurance is now required for her and her husband.
For much of Wednesday evening, Yolo County had a mandatory evacuation order in effect for people living just northeast of Yolo. That was lifted at 9 p.m., but people near Cache Creek aren't out of the woods-- or the water-- just yet.
"It's encouraging as long as the rain stops,” Bahneman said. “I mean, if it rains up the valley, then we're going to get it this way. If it rains here, the grounds are just so saturated, there's nowhere for it to go, you know? And these are old levees. Hopefully, they hold up."
Yolo County encourages people to sign up for emergency alerts, which are used not only in flood warnings and evacuation notices but also for other severe weather events and emergencies. HERE, you can sign up and choose which alerts you get-- and where they go: texts, emails, and calls are all options.
Yolo County's emergency alert system is shared with Sacramento and Placer counties, too. People living in any of those three counties can sign up for alerts HERE.
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For the past few days, the operation center for Yolo County Emergency Services has been monitoring the major rain storm. Now, crews are preparing for the worst as Cache Creek continues to grow dangerously high.