Severe storms and compound flooding over the first weekend of the new year have prompted an emergency proclamation from Marin County. 

The proclamation was issued Tuesday and submitted to the governor by County Executive Derek Johnson, acting as the county’s director of emergency services.  

The convergence of a severe storm system, precipitation-driven surface runoff, storm surge, high winds and record king tides caused widespread coastal and inland flooding with some levee failures. Impacts included the inundation of structures, road closures, utility disruption, landslides, the release of hazardous materials and the displacement of residents. 

From Dec. 18 to Jan. 6, Marin County received 10 to 15 inches of rain, with king tides peaking about 2.5 feet above normal.  

The proclamation allows Marin County to request assistance from the California Office of Emergency Services and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to offset qualifying repair costs.  

Preliminary damage estimates total approximately $3.5 million, including $2.6 million in levee damage in Santa Venetia, $300,000 in road and bridge damage, $420,000 in losses to parks and $96,000 in debris removal and emergency response costs. 

Parked cars are inundated with floodwaters along Francisco Boulevard in the Canal district of San Rafael, Calif., after a series of winter storms coincided with a king tide on Saturday, Jan. 3, 2025. (Rita Mazariegos via Bay City News)

Cities, towns, and special districts also sustained significant damage, including Larkspur, Sausalito, Corte Madera and the Ross Valley Sanitary District. Their combined preliminary damage total approximately $850,000. 

Altogether, estimated storm-related impacts within Marin County total $4.35 million. The Marin County Board of Supervisors is scheduled to ratify the proclamation at its meeting next week. 

Residents are encouraged to register for AlertMarin and visit ReadyMarin.org for emergency preparedness resources.

Ruth Dusseault is an investigative reporter and multimedia journalist focused on environment and energy. Her position is supported by the California local news fellowship, a statewide initiative spearheaded by UC Berkeley aimed at supporting local news platforms. While a student at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism (c’23), Ruth developed stories about the social and environmental circumstances of contaminated watersheds around the Great Lakes, Mississippi River and Florida’s Lake Okeechobee. Her thesis explored rights of nature laws in small rural communities. She is a former assistant professor and artist in residence at Georgia Tech’s School of Architecture, and uses photography, film and digital storytelling to report on the engineered systems that undergird modern life.