In Marin County, flooding stranded motorists and kayakers Saturday in areas where cyclists typically ride their bikes. In San Francisco, storm surge drenched onlookers at the Embarcadero and Creasy Airport.
Elsewhere, storm surge forced other road closures in Alameda County and in Pacifica and Half Moon Bay.
Jon Borges surveyed the flooded intersection at the Grand Gasoline gas station off Route 101 at De Silva Island Drive in Mill Valley and his friend’s Toyota pickup truck that was trapped.
“I didn’t expect anything like this at all,” he said of the impact of the weekend’s king tides, which flooded many low-lying areas in Mill Valley, San Francisco’s Embarcadero and other parts of the Bay Area.
Oliver Ocampo, 5, of Sunnyvale, plays in the water during high tide Saturday near the Embarcadero Ferry Building in San Francisco. “I wish I could have a rainbow,” said his mother, Sharon Hung. “He’s going to be fun to play with.” (Yalonda M. James/SF Chronicle)
According to National Weather Service meteorologist Roger Gass, the trio of strong winds and torrential rain from the supermoon, the incoming storm system, caused high tides Saturday morning to be 2.5 feet above normal, the highest since February 6, 1998. Flooding was reported in Marin, Sonoma, Alameda, San Mateo and San Francisco Bay Area counties.
The tide peaked just after 10.30am on Saturday, but it took several hours for the water to recede. On January 27, 1998, San Francisco’s highest tide reached 2.8 feet.
High tides have prompted a coastal flood warning to be issued for much of the Bay Area and Central Coast, which is in effect until 2pm on Sunday. Powerful spring tides and strong winds blow seawater into streets, parks and other low-lying areas. Two feet of floodwater closed part of Interstate 80 west of the metering light on the Oakland side of the Bay Bridge and forced other road closures in Corte Madera and several roads in Sonoma County.
The storm surge whipped up huge waves that rolled over coastal piers in Pacifica and Half Moon Bay and the sidewalks of Pier 14 on San Francisco’s Embarcadero, drenching onlookers.
Flash flooding also disrupted traffic in Southern California. Southbound Highway 101 in Gaviota (Santa Barbara County) was closed Saturday morning due to mudslides and flooding covering all lanes.
Noah Dorfman walked Molly along a flooded path during high tide in Mill Valley on Saturday. (Stephen Lin/SF Chronicle)
Mill Valley was particularly hard hit, with flooding stranding motorists and forcing intersection closures.
Borges, 28, got the call around 10:30 a.m., just as the king tide was at its peak.
His friend tried to drive his Toyota pickup truck through a flooded intersection and became trapped until local firefighters helped free him.
Borges lived on a houseboat in Sausalito and was used to the tides, but neither he nor his friends realized how severe flooding at Gas Station Crossing would be.
“We’re just waiting for the water level to drop enough to find the tow truck,” he said.
At Camino Alto and Miller avenues, Mill Valley Public Works Department employees blocked a flooded intersection.
“This is the first time I’ve seen something this bad,” said Mark Bartel, who started working at the department six months ago.
People take shelter from the rain at Pier 14 in San Francisco on Saturday. (Yalonda M. James/SF Chronicle)
The department had closed other roads two months ago due to minor flooding, but “that’s not the case,” he said as he waved motorists into the adjacent Safeway parking lot.
A few yards away, Jen Bennett, 53, and Marianne Kabir, 56, were walking to pick up their son from basketball practice.
“You can’t even go to high school,” Bennett said.
Earlier in the day, she tried to go for a run, only to find her usual tracks underwater.
Kabir sees the bright side. All floods bring with them a flock of birds.
“It’s really beautiful,” she said.
Eli Ferrell, left, and brothers Connor and Brett Cardinal prepare to launch their boat in raging Coyote Creek during a king tide in Mill Valley on Saturday. (Stephen Lin/SF Chronicle)
At Equator Coffee, further up Almont Avenue, baristas fielded calls from customers asking if they could come inside. Julia Pfahl, 36, was buying her morning coffee and chatting with the barista. She had to leave home much earlier than usual to work at Proof Lab Surf Shop. When she arrived at her job, she found the store submerged in 4 inches of water.
“This is the worst I’ve ever seen,” she said, laughing. “Everyone was panicking, no one knew how to drive – I saw a car at the Holiday Inn (nearby on Shoreline Highway) with water on the windows. Do you really think you could drive through that car?”
Another round of minor coastal flooding is expected later Sunday morning, although it won’t be as severe as Saturday’s levels, meteorologists said.
Meteorologists said tidal levels will be about half a foot lower than Saturday’s flooding. Coastal flood warnings are expected to disappear by Monday.
This article was originally published on ‘The worst I’ve ever seen’: Bay Area flooding closes roads, leaves motorists stranded.
