It was a stormy weekend

Sewage plant passes its first big water test

Some of winter’s highest tides occurred this weekend, pushing waves over the jetty with enough power to nearly blot out the view of Battery Point Lighthouse. Del Norte Triplicate/Bryant Anderson

The recent storm served as the plant’s first trial run of a big event, proving the need for the plant’s new capacity, said City Manager Eugene Palazzo and utilities director/associate engineer Eric Wier.

“What happened in the past is the gate would shut and we would have sewage flows in town” if the flow of stormwater was too high, Wier said.

Before improvements, the plant would have problems handling more than 6–7 million gallons of wastewater a day. The plant processed 11 million gallons of wastewater Friday, Wier said. The plant could handle more wastewater as well — only four of the five main pumps were utilized in this last storm, Wier said

“The plant is a great project for this community and the storm just shows the benefit that the community gets from the plant,” Palazzo said.

A tree fell across U.S. Highway 199 near Hiouchi, blocking the roadway for almost an hour. Courtesy of Mike Cuthbertson

The orange sailboat Star will soon be removed once the city determines the most cost-effective  method, Palazzo said. The city has obtained a waiver releasing Mark Sweet of ownership of the boat. City and harbor officials doubted that the vessel was worth salvaging since it shows signs of rotting on the hull and mast after years of neglect, Palazzo said.

Flooding in the county from the storm was minimal and power outages were limited, according to the Sheriff’s Office. Panther Creek RV resort in Klamath flooded, however,  and Ruby Van Deventer Park temporarily lost four campsites from high waters on the Smith River.

The Smith crested at 1:30 p.m. Thursday at a stage of 28.4 feet and a flow of 109,000 cubic feet per second, according to the river gauge in Hiouchi. The river dropped to 16.71 feet by 3 p.m. Friday with a flow of 25,800 cfs, but started rising again shortly after reaching a crest of 22.84 feet with a flow of 58,900 cfs around 5 a.m. Saturday. By 5 p.m. Monday, the river was at 13.25 feet, with a flow of 13,600 cfs.

Del Norte County received 8–20 inches of rain from Jan. 16 to Monday, with the majority of the county falling in the range of 10–15 inches, according to the National Weather Service.

Big Flat resident Anne Steven said she recorded 23.7 inches of rain in Big Flat from Wednesday to Sunday, with at least 10 inches of rain on Thursday alone.

Reach Adam Spencer at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it