Moderate wind and rain pummeled Humboldt and Del Norte Counties last night.

Eureka National Weather Service Meteorologist Brad Charboneau told the Outpost that the northern half of Humboldt County received the most rain.

“Two and a half to four inches of rain has fallen since yesterday morning,” Charboneau said.”

The California Highway Patrol reported multiple incidents of flooding and debris blocking the roadway in Humboldt and Del Norte Counties early this morning. According to one CHP report, Old Arcata Road was flooded with two feet of water around 6:30 a.m.

The weather service reported winds ranging from 30 to 50 mph last night. Gale force winds of 53 mph were recorded near the North Jetty.

“We had a cold front that moved through overnight with strong southerly winds,” Charboneau said. “As the cold front passed it switched to the northwest.”

LoCo reader Chelsie Paris said that strong winds blew her shed onto a neighbor’s house in Rio Dell.

“We woke up to some banging this a.m. and went to go see what it was,” Paris said. “The high winds blew our shed on the neighbors house!”

The storm has also temporarily shut down the Humboldt Ice Rink in Fortuna.

Charboneau said it is unclear if the recent surge in stormy weather is related to El Niño.

“It’s hard to say, typically the effects of El Niño are more prevalent in the second half of the winter,” Charboneau said. “It will be hard to say until the season is over. So the precipitation is near to slightly above normal for winter this year. So we’re off to a pretty good start.”