Sonoma County has been widely recognized as a good place to sell umbrellas. Numerous winter storms have brought heavy winds and rain, causing flooding in the lower Russian River, Petaluma River and local streams and creeks. Sonoma County has activated the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) in the January and March 1995 Winter Storms, large storms in December 1995 and February 1996, the Cavedale and Porter Creek Wildfires in August 1996, the New Year's Flood of 1997, the 1998 El Nino Flood and Rio Nido Slide incidents, as well as the 2004 Geysers Fire.
Since 1991, Sonoma County/Op Area has had:
| Year | Event Name | Dates | EOC Activated |
Local Emergency |
Gubernatorial Declaration |
Presidential Declaration |
| 1991 | Freeze of ’91 |
Dec 90 - Feb 91 |
X | X | X | |
| 1993 | Flood of ’93 |
Jan 20-25 |
X | X | X | X |
| 1994 | Fishing Emergency |
May – Sep |
X | X | X | |
| 1995 | Flood of '95, Part I |
Jan 8-31 |
X | X | X | X |
| 1995 | Flood of '95, Part II |
Mar 7-15 |
X | X | X | X |
| 1995 | December Winter Storm |
Dec 11-12 |
X | X | ||
| 1996 | February Winter Storm |
Feb 4-5 |
X | |||
| 1996 | Cavedale Fire |
July 31-Aug 20 |
X | X | ||
| 1996 | Jenner Sandbarrier |
Jul 31 - Aug 20 |
X | |||
| 1996 | Porter Creek Fire |
Oct 27-28 |
X | |||
| 1997 | New Year's Flood |
Dec 30 - Jan 4 |
X | X | X | X |
| 1997 | Superbowl Flood |
Jan 25 |
X | |||
| 1998 | Flood of '98 (Rio Nido) |
Feb 2, 1998 - Jan 4, 2000 |
X | X | X | X |
| 1999 | February Winter Storm |
Feb 8-10 |
X | X | ||
| 2002 | December Winter Storms |
December |
X | |||
| 2004 | Geysers Fire |
Sep 3 - 7 |
X | X | ||
| 2006 | New Year's Flood |
Dec 30 2005 - Jan 4 2006 |
X | X | X | X |
| 2006 | Spring Flooding |
Mar 29 - Apr 16 |
X | X | X | |
| 2007 | SF Bay Oil Spill |
Nov 7 |
X | X |
