Sacramento Region Braces For Potential Flooding As River Levels Rise

Rising river levels have raised concerns of potential flooding in the Sacramento region.

Pete Fickenscher is a hydrologist with the National Weather Service River Forecast Center.

"So the Sacramento River say at I Street, which is right by downtown or Old Sacramento, we're currently at about 12.5 feet," says Fickenscher. "Flood stage there is 33.5 feet, so that's another 21 feet above where we're currently at. Currently we're forecasting it to go to around 25 feet in the next five days."

Beyond the five day forecast, the River Forecast Center sees potential for the rivers to come up higher.

"It takes a while for the water to get downstream from up near Redding, so we're expecting further rises above 25 feet," he says. 

The Weather Service says the area at greatest risk for flooding this weekend is the Cosumnes River near Michigan Bar and Elk Grove.

"Currently the river there is about nine feet, which is three feet below its flood stage," he says. "Just with the last two days of rain fall it's brought the river level up a fair amount."

They're forecasting river levels could rise two to four feet above flood stage in areas south of Sacramento.