Marin County is grappling with significant flooding issues due to a combination of heavy rains and high king tides, causing disruptions in travel and impacting residents and businesses. In a social media post by CHP Marin, first responders are stretched thin due to lane and road closures throughout the county, particularly on US-101, including Lucky Drive and the SR-1 area in Mill Valley, as well as on eastbound SR-37 between SR-121 and Mare Island. The public is advised to avoid traveling through the affected areas and refrain from driving through standing water.
Yesterday, according to the Marin Independent Journal, Highway 101 near Lucky Drive was submerged, and traffic on the highway was at a standstill for hours. The flooding also affected residential and business districts in Corte Madera, Larkspur, and the Canal neighborhood in San Rafael, showing the widespread nature of the impact. Many parts of the region, including crucial roadways, remained submerged in water, leading to power outages and straining local resources.
Laine Hendricks, a spokeswoman for the county, told Marin Independent Journal that "We are seeing a significant amount of flooding throughout the county." Damage to infrastructure, such as the levee near Vendola Drive in Santa Venetia, and business outages in Tiburon further compounded the community's struggle against high waters. Meanwhile, public works teams hastened to keep pumps operating efficiently amid overwhelming water levels.
Important to the understanding of the scope of this disaster, Belvedere Mayor Sally Wilkinson reported to the Marin Independent Journal that Beach Road was at risk of breach by the bay waters, and mainland Tiburon faced continuous challenges with inundation. Brayben Murdoch, a National Weather Service meteorologist, expounded on the role of the king tides and storm surges in causing the flooding, giving some hope for an ebb in the high tide levels heading into Sunday and Monday.
