The Bay For Marin County, Last Weekend’s Floods Were a Wake-Up Call
Jan 9, 2026
Ezra David Romero, a climate reporter for KQED, dives into the recent flooding in Marin County, unpacking how unexpected storms and king tides caught residents off-guard. He emphasizes the alarming reality of climate change, highlighting that saturated ground conditions worsened the flooding. Ezra shares insights from a field tour of the impact zones and discusses the severe damage to homes and businesses. He also provides advice on individual preparedness and discusses potential solutions like seawalls and raised buildings to combat future flood risks.
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Perfect Storm Of Flooding Factors
- King tides, saturated ground, and a low-pressure storm combined to create unusually severe flooding in Marin County.
- The simultaneous factors made a predictable king tide far more damaging than usual.
County Tour Shows Widespread Flooding
- Reporters and local officials toured damaged sites across Marin, including San Rafael, Marin City, and Sausalito.
- They observed homes that sit below water level and breached levees in multiple locations.
Reclaimed Land Raises Risk
- Many low-lying Marin neighborhoods are built on filled marshland that sits near or below current sea level.
- That reclaimed land also settles over time, increasing flood vulnerability as buildings weigh it down.