- October 26, 2021
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Robert Schmidt cleans up after Saturday’s storm in front of his home on C Street in San Rafael on Monday, Oct. 25, 2021. During the storm, the street was under water, with several inches of water entering Schmidt’s garage. (Alan Dep/Marin Independent Journal)
A "flooded" sign remains after water had receded on C Street in San Rafael on Monday, Oct. 25, 2021. (Alan Dep/Marin Independent Journal)
Matthew Landry wrings out a mop as he dries out his garage on C Street in San Rafael on Monday, Oct. 25, 2021. Landry says shoes were floating in his garage when his street flooded during Saturday’s storm. (Alan Dep/Marin Independent Journal)
A city crew works on a fallen tree and power line in the neighborhood near south end of B Street in San Rafael, Calif., during the storm on Sunday, Oct. 24, 2021. (Sherry LaVars/Marin Independent Journal)
A fallen tree and power line block a road in the neighborhood near the south end of B Street in San Rafael, Calif., during the storm on Sunday, Oct. 24, 2021. (Sherry LaVars/Marin Independent Journal)
A city crew works on a fallen tree and power line in the neighborhood near the south end of B Street in San Rafael, Calif., during the storm on Sunday, Oct. 24, 2021. (Sherry LaVars/Marin Independent Journal)
California bore the brunt on Sunday, Oct. 24, 2021, of what meteorologists referred to as a "bomb cyclone" and an "atmospheric river," a convergence of storms that brought more than half a foot of rain to parts of the Bay Area. (NOAA via The New York Times)
A car sloshes through a partially flooded section of Highway 101 in Corte Madera, Calif., on Sunday, Oct. 24, 2021. (Ethan Swope/Associated Press)
Water inundates Third Street near Montecito Plaza in San Rafael, Calif., during a storm on Oct. 24, 2021. (Sherry LaVars/Marin Independent Journal)
A vehicle slices through flooding along Third Street near San Rafael High School during a storm on Oct. 24, 2021. (Sherry LaVars/Marin Independent Journal)
Water surrounds a disabled car at the southbound Highway 101 onramp in Marin City, Calif., on Sunday, Oct. 24, 2021. (Sherry LaVars/Marin Independent Journal)
A major blast of rain over the weekend left Marin reeling from the impact Monday even as the storm had moved on.
The storm, which hit the Bay Area on Sunday, brought 11.09 inches of rain to Kentfield, smashing the daily record and ranking it the second rainiest day documented in Marin, according to the National Weather Service.
The previous record for Oct. 24 was set in 2010 at 4.26 inches. The record for any day was set at 11.56 inches on Jan. 21, 1967, the weather agency said.
The storm made a mess across Marin, overwhelming police, fire and public works departments, officials said.
Fire agencies responded to more than 650 calls over the weekend, including three structure fires, three water rescues in Richardson Bay, 20 vehicle collisions — seven of which required extrication — 163 trees down and 185 reports of flooding at homes and businesses, the Marin County Fire Department reported.
“We’ve been pretty much busy nonstop over the last 24 hours,” Marin County fire Battalion Chief Bret McTigue said. “We’re starting to rehab our equipment and crews, but there are still calls pending that we’re responding to.”
Fairfax-Bolinas Road was closed from the Meadow Club to Highway 1 to clear trees and mud in the road.
“Our crews are just doing cleanup work across all the unincorporated area of Marin now,” said Julian Kaelon, spokesman for the Marin County Department of Public Works. “We also have teams out checking levees in unincorporated areas of Novato, Coyote Creek area and Santa Venetia.”
The creek this morning by Reimagining Creek Park – pic.twitter.com/YCgmyM20Ac
— Natalie Hanson *spooky edition* (@nhanson_reports) October 25, 2021
PG&E reported about 6,082 connections in Marin were still without power as of about 6:20 a.m., including 2,242 in San Rafael and 1,051 in the Tamalpais and Homestead Valley area. At 9 a.m. PG&E crews reported about 18,504 outages in Marin, Napa and Sonoma counties.
Deanna Contreras, a spokeswoman for the utility, said most of the outages were due to fallen trees striking electrical equipment.
“PG&E crews and contractors are working around the clock replacing broken power poles, downed power lines, damaged transformers and other electric parts,” she said.
“In some areas, we are facing access issues due to flooding or fallen vegetation,” she said.
Mount Tamalpais received 16.55 inches of rain in the 48-hour span ending around 7:30 a.m. Monday, according to the National Weather Service. Meteorologist Brayden Murdock said other gauge readings included 5.27 inches in Novato, 6.59 inches in San Rafael and 4.09 inches in Point Reyes.
The storm has helped calm nerves frayed by the threat of fire in Marin, McTigue said.
“We might be out of harm’s way in the north, but we still have to be on standby for Southern California,” he said.
You've been asking for it, and we're delivering.
Rainfall totals (omitting areas that are still seeing rain)
This includes rain ahead of the front as well as some lingering showers.
you can find the big list for the Bay Area here:https://t.co/tWmwafdjIv#CAwx pic.twitter.com/fH70GxxO4U
— NWS Bay Area (@NWSBayArea) October 25, 2021
Heavy flooding was reported in San Rafael, Corte Madera, Marin City, Novato and Mill Valley during the storm.
In downtown San Anselmo, the area cleared out in mid-afternoon as the creek began to rise. Mayor Brian Colbert said he arrived at around 1 p.m. and grew concerned walking by Creek Park and Creekside Pizza and Taproom, a “choke point” for the creek.
“I could see the water lapping up,” he said.
Colbert said town staffers worried the water would rise even higher, and were relieved when it began to recede Sunday night.
Public Works Director Sean Condry said his staff “yellow tagged” four houses for repairs due to a fallen oak tree. While no resident evacuations were officially reported, Colbert said he knew of some neighbors who left their homes as the creek swelled.
Downtown businesses closed as power went out and the creek continued to rise. Pat Townsley, a 20-year resident who owns Creekside Pizza, said his restaurant, which is 13 feet above the creek, was a gathering place for neighbors.
“We had a full house because several neighborhoods were out of power,” he said, noting that customers turned out to use the Wi-Fi, watch football and order hot food.
At about 2 p.m., with the water close to flood stage, they began to hear loud “bangs” from logs underneath the building, and decided to put up flood gates, Townsley said.
”We knew the water was getting high,” he said. “I didn’t know it was going to get as high as it got.”
The restaurant reopened Monday with no apparent flood damage, Townsley said.
Elsewhere in San Anselmo, Meredith Moran, who lives off Madrone Avenue, said the water came up to her door.
Dan Daffner, who has lived off Nokomis Avenue for 17 years, said he and his neighbors watched as water crested the bridge.
“It got up to about 12 feet,” he said.
Daffner said the street flooded from Madrone to Sais avenues. He recalled devastating flooding in 2005 and said he felt lucky the water did not rise higher.
“We were crossing our fingers, it came up pretty fast … especially for it being October,” Daffner said.
In Novato, flooding was reported at Cherry Street and Armstrong Avenue and in the Nave Gardens neighborhood. In Bahia, a fallen tree crushed a car, said Christopher Blunk, the city’s public works director.
Public works crews worked from Sunday morning until 2 a.m. Monday clearing plugged gutters and creek culverts, cutting trees and removing debris from the streets, he said.
In San Rafael, first responders scrambled from call to call. Police logged 230 emergency and 206 non-emergency calls for service as rain continued to pound the city. Police and firefighters responded to 382 incidents, while public works staffers responded to more than 70, police Sgt. Justin Graham said.
Flooding in downtown Sunday triggered road closures, including eastbound Second Street from Fourth Street to Hetherton Street, Graham said.
Several drivers who ignored closures stalled out on Andersen Drive, which was flooded between Bellam Boulevard and Francisco Boulevard West. Some drivers waited several hours to be rescued by first responders, Graham said.
On Bellam Boulevard, a speeding driver was unable to slow down in time and struck a public works vehicle on Sunday night. There were no serious injuries, Graham said.
On Monday morning, resident Robert Schmidt was among the homeowners mopping up water that lapped into his C street home.
“It went in the garage — we really dodged a bullet, though. If it had gone up another 6 inches, it could have been much worse,” he said. “The tide changed just in the nick of time, because the creek was flowing 3 feet over the top into the street and flowing toward our house.”
Next door, Matthew Landry was cleaning water out of his garage. He moved to his home in July and knew the area was prone to flooding. The storm did not do as much damage as he feared.
“It was about what I expected,” he said, adding that he planned to look into better flood proofing and check in with the city about clearing storm drains.
For some without a home, the storm caused destruction and loss of prized possessions.
Lynn Murphy, the San Rafael homeless services coordinator, said some residents reported lost property due to wind and rain, but only two tents were destroyed. Resident Brian Parrish said his tent shelter stayed intact; he put carpets underneath it and kept his belongings in bins.
Murphy said the city plans to construct platforms in the coming weeks to raise tents off the ground, using donated lumber from Rafael Lumber and Building Supply.
In Sausalito, campers at Marinship Park were not so lucky. Nearly every tent blew over, and many campers were flooded out.
Robbie Powelson, an activist who advocates for the homeless campers, said about 14 people were evacuated. Many fled to hotels at their own expense or with help from donors.
Mayor Jill Hoffman said the city declared a local emergency and established a shelter at the Martin Luther King Jr. Academy gym for residents of the camp. The city library also extended its hours, inviting residents to use their space for shelter, electricity and restrooms.
“Obviously our main concern was the safety of our residents,” Hoffman said Monday. “We wanted to have a place for people to get out of the cold and rain. I’m certainly glad it’s not raining today.”
Powelson said most campers had already moved to hotels.
Hoffman said city staffers provided campers with ponchos and other gear on Friday night. She went to the camp with city staff to assess the damage after the storm, she said.
There were tents and tarps blown over and debris was scattered throughout the camp, she said. Throughout the city, crews were also dealing with downed trees, isolated flooding and an outage affecting 700 residents, she said.
On Monday, at least 10 people were cleaning up debris around their tent homes, which were surrounded by mud and waterlogged grass. With few options, Powelson said, he expected most people to return, despite the condition of the camp.
Camp resident James LeBlanc said that due to an illness, he chose not to stay in a hotel room, and spent the night sheltered in the public restroom to use the wall heater. His home, constructed out of pallets and tarps, survived the night with minimal damage, and he said he planned to stay.
His neighbor, Mark Stack, said his shelter was mostly intact despite the wind.
At Muir Woods Lodge, Mark Vanderven said his new tent was destroyed by the wind, leaving him with few options. After a night at the hotel, he said he has no idea where he would go next, preferring to forgo the city shelter.
His friend Dan Shopplein, also staying at the motel, agreed, saying he would rather stay in his vehicle.
Rudy Wyatt said his tent was destroyed by wind, even though he had weighed it down.
“It just flattened the whole tent,” he said. “I was worried about getting hit by something flying by, because the wind was so strong.”
Wyatt said he tried to stay in the camp until dawn Sunday morning, but due to health concerns, had to abandon it. He said he has one small tent left, but was not sure what to do next. Most of his possessions were at the camp and he was wary of returning.
Standing outside the hotel room, he said the situation has made him feel defeated.
“I just got discouraged,” he said. “I mean, I don’t give up, but I’m starting to give up. I’m starting to not care.”
On Richardson Bay, the storm took its toll. Three live-aboard boats grounded in Tiburon and two sunk, said Curtis Havel, the harbormaster. There were also six tenders or skiffs, small boats used to get to and from the shore, that ran aground, and another five that sank, he said.
“Yesterday’s storm was certainly disruptive but I’m pleased there was no loss of life or injuries to report,” Havel said.
Compared to a storm last year when 20 boats went adrift and sank or grounded, Havel said the weekend walloping was less severe, in part thanks to the agency’s work to remove derelict boats.
“If you have a boat in the anchorage, you need to make sure it’s safe so this doesn’t happen,” he said. “It’s a safety and environmental problem when boats sink or crash.”
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