Homes and businesses in King Salmon continue to be affected by the ongoing historic high tides and the coming storm system, which saw no break Saturday, as record-breaking tides hit.According to Troy Nicolini of the Eureka National Weather Service, “We have a really high astronomical tide today combined with pretty significant storm surge, as high as it gets, and we’ll get it somewhere in the 10.1-10.3 (foot) range at about 10:45 at its north-spit gauge across the bay from King Salmon. That’s a record-breaking high tide for today, and when we were talking to people there in King Salmon they’ve said it’s the highest they’ve ever seen, which confirms our measurements.” “Today the wild card is we’ve got strong winds coming onshore,” Nicolini continued. “That’s leading up to that high tide. For King Salmon, we’re not entirely sure what impact that we have with the southwest wind, so the north bay of Arcata where it gets really close to Highway 255, the situation we have might push some additional water up on the road, but I can’t say with great clarity what it’s going to do for King Salmon.”Saturday’s high tide was expected to exceed Friday’s. For context, Nicolini says the astronomical high tide was the sun and moon pulling on the water, and the storm surge tends to shove the ocean into the coast, with a wind that will push the water up that much higher as far as how it will impact King Salmon. The astronomical high tides and storm surge, says Nicolini, in themselves are factors contributing to a very high tide.As news broke Saturday, Nicolini said the tide came in at 10.37 feet, and wanted the community to know that “the tide has turned the corner but the water is staying up because of the wind. There are a lot of flooded low-lying areas and roads, with heavy rain and wind, so just slow down. The worst thing is for you to hit deep water that you don’t see and you’re going fast. There are some really high winds and gusty rain, we’ve issued a tornado warning for Shelter Cove, which won’t impact Humboldt County, but that just gives you an idea of how severe this weather setup is.”As the newspaper reached its print deadline Saturday, Nicolini emphasized “numbered highways, 255 entire lanes covered with water, we’re not talking about surface streets or neighborhoods,” and 101 northbound near College of the Redwoods potentially being closed.For King Salmon, “It’s probably not a huge safety issue with slow-moving, standing water,” he said, though he did caution against the risk of rust to automobiles driving through saltwater. Also, he said with any threat of electricity to be involved, “you don’t want to be anywhere near that standing water, that’s the biggest threat.” If it gets to be a flooding situation into and around people’s homes, it could pick up a power line.”Nicolini also cautioned against the risk of high winds and thunderstorms later Saturday. And he mentioned that people should be aware that the wake their car makes when driving through flooded water, especially at slow speeds that keep an engine from stalling, could make its way into someone’s house.Finally, he also said when the tide is starting to fall, it will produce very high current throughout the bay, as high as the county has seen, so kayakers or any water-sports enthusiasts would do well to avoid the five-knot currents near openings in the bay.Residents cope with floodingOn the ground in King Salmon, Mark Parton, said the flooding had affected his yard and flooded it over, saying, “It happens every year, but not this bad, this is the worst it’s ever happened. It’s only getting worse.” To prepare himself, firstly he said, “my trailer is pretty high, so it doesn’t get to it, but the streets are (flooded),” and he uses main thoroughfares like King Salmon Avenue, which as of Saturday morning was not flooded over but would shortly be closed. As to the potential for flooding worsening, he points at his neighbors’ yards, completely flooded and impassable as they never have been. Parton did say he felt secure for the most part.“They all know, they’ve been here long enough,” said Parton of the danger. “I’ve been here seven years, it’s kind of hard to get used to something like this, but it’s happening more and more and more.”Bruce Brown had been in King Salmon for three and a half years, and said it was “absolutely” the worst flooding King Salmon had seen. “It never used to come up to this side at all,” gesturing to a part of his property. “The highest it ever got was the front of that trailer in terms of water. But this has been the worst.”Grange helps outHumboldt Grange #501 in Eureka was preparing to open its doors Saturday, according to secretary Kathy Moley, “to relieve residents impacted by local flooding and storm damage. We’re doing what we can in our community as part of what the Grange does, we’re community-based. I’ll get out of here, get the coffee on and some donuts, we’ll have those free and if people show up we’ll make lunch.”Moley said it was about getting people “in out of the cold, drying things if they need to, or parking at a dry location.” 5845 Humboldt Hill Road is the Grange’s address, at the corner of Humboldt Hill and Eich roads. She said the group would “take it as it goes, and if we need to be open (Sunday), we will.”Humboldt Hill, King Salmon, and Fields Landing is the local community that they serve, “but anybody impacted by the storms is welcome, if they just want to come and be around other people,” said Moley. “We get into the New Year, it’s cold and dark and stormy, and our doors are open, we’re doing what we can to give people hot coffee and tea and camaraderie.”Moley welcomed contacts from people seeking more information by emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or calling 707-498-0801.Read More
