A huge portion of California is under a flood watch through Saturday night, including an area stretching across much of the Northern Sacramento River Valley from Southwestern Shasta County to Western Colusa County. Heavy rains may affect floodplains in and around Redding, Red Bluff, Chico and many communities in between. The good news is the rising lake levels. Lake Shasta is still more than 142 feet below the dam’s maximum capacity, but with the water level at 924 feet above sea level, it’s come up by about 8 feet since hitting it’s lowest level of the season 6 weeks ago. It’s also about 12 feet higher than this date last year.