March Weather Madness, 1907

The Susan River near Johnstonville, just before the bridge floated away—G.L.Morrrill

Note: This originally appeared on March 17, 2021. I thought with the latest weather predictions, will we see some kind of repeat of March 1907.

March 1907 was no doubt one of the wettest on record.The storms were widespread across Northern California, practically turning the Sacramento Valley into one vast lake. After all there no reservoirs such as Oroville and Shasta to retain some of the flood waters.

On March 16, 1907 it began to rain in the Honey Lake Valley. It was one continuous downpour and after 96 hours eight inches of rain drenched the region. Tremendous flooding was to be found everywhere. The majority of the bridges were either washed out or so severely damaged they were unsafe to cross. However, a lot of property damage was minimal. F. Peissker of Susanville suffered one of the biggest casualties. He was located on Richmond Road near the Susan River and the flood waters swept away some 100 cords of firewood, which was how he made his living.

The respite from the wet weather was brief. Two days later it began to snow. By March 22, forty inches of heavy wet snow blanketed Susanville. Travel was brought to a complete standstill. It took a two-horse team seven hours to haul mail one-way from Janesville to Susanville.

In all, some 13 inches of precipitation was recorded that month.

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