Keswick Dam too full will send 5 times more water down Sacramento River due to storms
Colleen Palmer spent Wednesday scrambling to get guests and tenants at Marina RV Park packed and safely to higher ground before the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation quintuples the amount of water flowing out of Keswick Dam into the Sacramento River.
After heavy rainstorms raised Lake Shasta waters more than 12 feet in two days, the bureau announced it would increase water releases from Keswick Dam into the Sacramento River starting Thursday. Water releases will jump from 7,500 cubic feet per second on Wednesday, to 20,000 cfs by Thursday morning, then to 40,000 cfs on Friday.
The Redding Fire Department will arrive in the evening to make sure all of Palmer’s tenants safely evacuated, she said, as she rushed to help people move from the lower level of Marina RV Park, along the Sacramento River, on Wednesday afternoon.
Marina RV Park resident Thomas Ratcliff prepares to evacuate the park off Park Marina Drive in Redding on Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025, before the Sacramento River rises and causes flooding. Park Manager Colleen Palmer said water releases from Keswick Dam were expected to increase Thursday and she told residents of the park’s lower level to move to higher ground.
Palmer said she plans to make sure every resident has a place to drive their RV: To Marina RV’s upper level, in front of a nearby friend’s house or a space at another trailer park.
“We’ve got to be out by 6 p.m.,” she said, “’cause you can’t do nothin’ in the dark.”
Read more: A dry January, then rain from atmospheric rivers, now snow forecast near Redding
Why Keswick Dam will release more water from Lake Shasta
Lake Shasta’s water level stood at 1,044.64 feet above sea level on Tuesday, up from 1,032.05 feet on Sunday, according to the Bureau of Reclamation.
The lake as of Tuesday was about 23 feet from reaching full capacity.
As of Tuesday, the amount of water flowing into the lake from the recent rains was 102,213 cubic feet per second, according to state data.
Homes remain flooded at Skyway Street and Airport Road in Redding on Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025, following torrential rain this week in the North State.
That’s when the Bureau of Reclamation announced it had to release some of the rainwater that flowed into the Lake Shasta during the storms. That water will pour into the Sacramento River starting around 2 a.m. Thursday, flooding some low-lying areas in and near Redding.
People visiting the river banks should watch for fast moving and cold water, the bureau cautioned.
Read more: Widespread flooding reported in Shasta County after record rainfall
Redding’s Park Marina RV community evacuates before Sacramento River floods
2025 is the second year in a row Marina RV Park guests needed to evacuate after heavy rains, said Palmer, whose long-term tenants include people on a fixed income.
Some guests consider the evacuation a semi-annual adventure, she said. “Some people are doing this for the fifth time. They keep coming back,” she said laughing.
Myles Kennedy of Kennedy Towing & Transport in Anderson hooks up a trailer at the Marina RV Park off Park Marina Drive in Redding on Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025, as residents evacuate to escape the rising Sacramento River. The trailer and travel-trailer in background belong to a resident named Erica who was heading to the Sacramento River RV Park. Erica, who declined to give her last name, was escaping the flood danger with her daughter and two young dogs.
Palmer plans to keep tabs on her tenants until it’s safe for them to come home. “I know where all of them are. They keep in touch with me,” she said.
Record Searchlight Reporter David Benda contributed to this story.
Jessica Skropanic is a features reporter for the Record Searchlight/USA Today Network. She covers science, arts, social issues and news stories. Follow her on Twitter @RS_JSkropanic and on Facebook. Join Jessica in the Get Out! Nor Cal recreation Facebook group. To support and sustain this work, please subscribe today. Thank you.
This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: Shasta County dam too full after storms to release more water
