Outdoor market in CA wine country floods

(27 Feb 2019) FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: apus112880 A twelve-acre outdoor entertainment district was flooded Wednesday after a series of severe storms dumped more than a foot of rain over some areas of California wine country. Several restaurants and stores were under several feet of water at "The Barlow" open-air market in Sebastopol, California. Business owners tried to keep additional flood water out by putting up metal barriers, but in many cases the damage was already done. The flood water came from the neighboring Laguna de Santa Rosa watershed. Business owners say it's the worst flooding they've seen at the six-year-old development. Meanwhile, two nearby communities were accessible only by boat after a rain-swollen river overflowed its banks and inundated low-lying areas around them overnight. One of them, the small city of Guerneville, "is officially an island," according to the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office. An official said the nearby town of Monte Rio was also isolated by floodwaters with all roads leading to it swamped. The swollen Russian River was forecast to rise more throughout the day, engorged by days of rain from western U.S. storms that has also dumped heavy snow in the Sierra Nevada mountains. There also was concern about potential mudslides in hillside areas saturated from days of downpours, and in areas scarred by 2017 wildfires. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...