Marin mops up from weekend storm, braces for next system

Three waves of precipitation in six days dropped more than 7 inches of rain in Marin, and more is on the way.

Heavy winds over the weekend added to woes, flooding parts of Marin and causing large swaths of power outages, including a citywide outage in Novato over the weekend. Calmer weather is in store this week, but meteorologists are predicting another windy, rainy weekend.

Between Dec. 11 and Monday, 7.46 inches of rain fell on Mount Tamalpais; 5.28 inches in San Rafael; 5.27 inches in Kentfield; 5.45 inches in Lagunitas; 4.88 inches south of Point Reyes and 4.71 inches in Novato, said Dial Hoang, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

Rough totals for other areas in Marin included 5.57 inches in Woodacre; 5.95 inches in San Anselmo; 5.75 inches at the Marin Civic Center in San Rafael, and 4.33 inches in Mill Valley.

Hoang said the highest wind gusts were recorded on Saturday. A weather recording station in the Nicasio hills reported 85 miles per hour wind gusts. Mount Tam and Point Reyes Station saw gusts of 70 miles per hour, and Novato logged gusts of 49 miles per hour.

Most emergency calls originated in southern Marin, Marin County sheriff’s Sgt. Adam Schermerhorn. The focus was on flooding along the shoreline. West Marin also was battered with storm surge, localized flooding and downed trees.

Marin County Fire Department spokesperson Mari Ochoa said the Marin County Fire Emergency Command Center logged over 300 storm-related calls across Marin during the period. Of those calls, county firefighters responded to about 35 fallen branches or trees, 31 downed power lines, and one water rescue.

Julian Kaelon, public information officer for the Marin County Department of Public Works, said county staff prepared in advance of the storm and patrolled 24/7 during the event to monitor storm-related issues. Crews stopped patrolling around the clock on Tuesday.

“As of today, they are back to their normal schedule and are addressing the lingering issues around the county, mostly clearing debris from roads, culverts and storm drains,” Kaelon said. “They will be doing that for the next few days, maybe into the weekend.”

Kaelon said the department cleared between two and three dozen trees from roads over the weekend. As of Tuesday no roads were closed. He noted that Bolinas Road was closed from Dec. 13 until Monday night, and that roads crew also cleared several minor slides in western Marin. In total, the public works department and the county flood control district responded to around 600 storm-related calls.

In west Marin, Inverness saw some flooding, caused by the combination of high tides and heavy rain. Sir Francis Drake Boulevard, from Bear Valley to Chicken Ranch Beach, also was impacted by flooding. Kaelon said it has mostly receded now. He said Middle Road, from Marsh Road to Highway 1, was still flooded on Tuesday and was expected to take a few days to clear up.

“High tides coupled with heavy rain exacerbates flooding in all the areas of the county that are prone to flooding, particularly in bayside, coastal communities,” Kaelon said.

Laurie Nilsen, emergency operations center coordinator for Tiburon, said there was some localized flooding but most issues were resolved once the water, and tide, receded.

Adriane Mertens, a spokesperson for Marin Municipal Water District, said the district recorded 6.12 inches of rain at Lake Lagunitas, and a total of 22.28 inches so far this year. The total rainfall for this time last year was 7.8 inches; the historical average rainfall total for this date is 14.58 inches.

Mertens said all of the district’s reservoirs, except the Kent Lake reservoir, are spilling. She said storage levels at the district’s seven reservoirs are at 94% of total capacity. The historical average storage capacity for this time of year is 69.21%.

Tony Williams, general manager for the North Marin Water District, said the reservoir at Stafford Lake began spilling on Monday. The reservoir gained 3 feet of elevation since the rain started. He said the district saw 3.21 inches of rain between Thursday and Sunday. The total rainfall since October is 11 inches.

“Which is significantly higher than last year at this time,” Williams said.

Megan McFarland, a spokesperson for PG&E, said Marin “took the brunt” of heavy winds and rain, and described the storm as extreme. She said at one point over the weekend, nearly 32,000 connections were without electricity. By Monday, 1,294 customers were without power due to storm-related equipment damage.

“At the height of the event in Marin County, we had 38 PG&E and contract crews reporting out of our San Rafael yard,” McFarland said. “The typical crew consists of four individuals.”

McFarland said western Marin saw significant damage to equipment, including downed trees throughout Inverness on the Tomales Bay side and in Olema Valley. In Novato, 300 customers near the Marin Country Club were impacted by a power outage, which included four downed poles and power lines.

“In one incident in Olema a tree was uprooted by the storm and took down three PG&E poles,” McFarland said. “We saw dozens of examples of downed power lines, particularly in west Marin where vegetation tends to be more concentrated.”

Hoang said the weather service is anticipating another high rain and wind weather event to move through Marin beginning late Friday night and ending sometime early next week. Hoang said there is some uncertainty about when the next storm will end, but said there will be multiple rounds of rainfall and “pretty impactful winds.”

“I’m going to urge people to take advantage of the nice weather now but also prepare for another round of flooding and wind concerns,” Hoang said.

Bay Area News Group contributed to this report.