Residents Demand Action On Flooding After King Tides Cripple Roadways In Marin County

MARIN COUNTY, CA — Weeks after record king tides and heavy rains flooded major Marin County roadways, residents packed a Marin County Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday to demand stronger action on flooding.

The early‑January storm left a roughly 15‑mile stretch between Sausalito and San Rafael repeatedly underwater. Authorities reported cars stranded in 3‑ to 4‑foot‑deep water, closures on Pt. San Pedro Road, Doherty Drive, Lucky Drive and portions of Highway 101, and a countywide 911 outage after flooding hit an AT&T hub in San Rafael. Some residents resorted to kayaks to get through swamped streets.

County Executive Derek Johnson told supervisors the event “exceeded all forecasts” and warned that additional king tides would return within weeks. While the coming tides were not expected to be as severe, he cautioned locals.

“Later this week, seasonal king tides are expected to return,” Johnson said. “Flooding is not forecasted at this time to be as bad as the event three weeks ago. However, localized impacts are possible, especially in areas that have experienced king tides in the past, including low lying and flood prone areas.”

Against that backdrop, southern Marin’s floating home community argued that chronic flooding along Gate 6 Road in Sausalito has become a life‑safety issue. Residents said the single access road to roughly 300 floating homes and several businesses can be cut off multiple times a year, isolating hundreds from emergency services.

Ecologist Terri Thomas, who lives nearby, urged the county to treat the January flooding as a turning point and to seriously evaluate both elevating Gate 6 Road and more innovative options such as floating road infrastructure that can rise with tides — an idea already studied in Sausalito’s shoreline adaptation planning.

Another resident from the floating homes area, described losing her car on Jan. 2 despite years of carefully tracking tides. She awoke to find people “kayaking past my car” in the parking lot.