Napa River flooding leaves damage behind, but city spared

NAPA, Calif. -- The Napa River crested at more than 26 feet on Wednesday causing some damage in parts of Napa County.

SKY7 showed floodwaters surrounding two homes near Silverado Trail and Oak Knoll Avenue. Flood waters also covered nearby vineyards and crept onto adjacent roads.

The more fortunate drivers only had to power through a couple inches of water.

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But ABC7 spotted an accident on Silverado Trail. The CHP had to push a damaged SUV onto the shoulder after it rear-ended a BMW that was braking for flood water, knocking it into a nearby ditch.

On nearby Yountville Cross Road, drivers had a decision to make-- brave flood waters of indeterminate depth or find an alternate.

Lawrence Koga was trying to get home to Yountville and decided to turn his pick-up around.

"I'm not going to take a chance. Otherwise, I'd have a floating Ford and I forgot my oars and my outboard motor," he said.

The first vehicle we saw take the challenge was a Jaguar. The water came up pretty high as the import made its way through. It was touch and go for a moment, but the car got through.

In downtown Napa, Lou Bors, his wife Teri and their grandson Everett took a look at the flood control bypass designed to keep water out of downtown businesses. When water on the Napa River gets too high it's diverted into the Oxbow Flood Control bypass. The 400-million dollar project took two decades to complete.