A huge portion of Northern California is under a flood watch starting Wednesday and continuing through Friday, 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 KQMS Facebook Page has a list of locations to pick up free sandbags and the sand to fill them. Lake Shasta is now a few feet above what it was the same time last year and about 15 feet above the level on this date in 2021. It’s still more than 138 feet below the dam’s maximum capacity. A high wind advisory also begins Wednesday as gusts could reach 45 miles an hour in Redding and 65 miles an hour on some high mountain ridges.