Three weeks after record-breaking king tides swept across Marin County’s low-lying shoreline communities, the cleanup drags on. From Sausalito to Corte Madera and beyond, businesses and homeowners are still drying out and repairing damage.
People keep grappling with the long-term implications of rising seas. This article dives into how local establishments, residents, and officials are responding to flooding that many now worry is becoming the new normal for waterfront Marin.
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King Tides Leave a Lasting Mark on Marin’s Shorelines
The recent king tides inundated vulnerable areas throughout Southern Marin, especially in Sausalito, Marin City, and along Richardson Bay. The water’s gone, but the aftermath sticks around in soggy walls, silt caked everywhere, and disrupted daily routines.
Low-lying commercial districts and residential neighborhoods took the hardest hit, exposing just how much the current flood-control infrastructure can’t handle. In spots like the Marinship and Gate 5 Road, business owners scrambled to protect their properties as tides rose to record levels.
Sandbags and straw logs slowed the advance of brackish water, but honestly, they just couldn’t keep up with the sheer volume and persistence of the surge.
Sausalito Businesses Struggle to Reopen
Anchorage 5 restaurant in Sausalito and nearby shops along Gate 5 Road managed to keep most floodwaters out. Still, they face wet interiors and layers of silt.
Some tenants, like a silkscreen artist and a jewelry maker, got lucky. They managed to elevate inventory in time, so they’re mostly dealing with production delays instead of destroyed goods.
Others weren’t as fortunate. Several commercial spaces suffered extensive water damage, forcing demolition, industrial drying, mold treatment, and total replacement of drywall, insulation, and flooring.
It’s proving both costly and time-consuming, especially for small businesses running on thin margins.
Property Owners Face Long Repairs and Rising Costs
Landlord Mauro Dosolini owns several rental spaces in the area and has gutted large sections of flood-damaged buildings. Dehumidifiers and ultraviolet filtration systems now run nonstop as repairs inch forward.
Dosolini figures reconstruction will take about three months. He’s also raising retaining walls to help guard against future flooding, an investment a lot of property owners in Sausalito, Tiburon, and Belvedere are now weighing.
Marinas and Waterfront Infrastructure Hit Hard
At Clipper Yacht Harbor, crews work around the clock to repair damaged bulkheads, docks, and a waterfront building. Despite heavy sandbagging, water soaked the building’s slab and subfloor, creating structural issues that’ll take months to fix.
Similar vulnerabilities show up throughout Richardson Bay and along the edges of Mill Valley and Strawberry. Aging shoreline infrastructure just isn’t holding up against higher tides.
Homes Along Creeks and Lagoons Feel the Impact
Residential neighborhoods didn’t escape the flooding. Homes near Corte Madera Creek and the Riviera Circle lagoon saw flooded crawl spaces, garages, and waterlogged yards.
Residents dragged ruined furniture to the curb and ripped out damaged drywall to keep mold at bay. In some cases, families in Corte Madera, Larkspur, and Greenbrae are still living amid repairs weeks later.
Insurance Gaps Complicate Recovery
Some businesses, like Fitness SF, managed to reopen quickly with company cleanup crews and new flooring and equipment. Others found out their insurance offered little or no flood coverage.
Flood insurance remains scarce in parts of the Marinship, making both recovery and future lending for property owners a complicated mess. Private insurance experiences varied wildly, leaving some owners fully covered and others pretty much on their own.
County Leaders Look for Help as Seas Rise
Marin County officials are taking stock of the total damages. They’re also looking into options for help, like Small Business Administration support and property tax relief for owners with over $10,000 in taxable damage.
Local leaders from Sausalito to San Rafael keep pushing for more federal involvement. They warn that sinking land and accelerating sea-level rise are making older flood-control systems fall behind.
For waterfront Marin, the king tides weren’t just a one-off crisis. They felt more like a blunt preview of what’s coming.
Here is the source article for this story: Weeks after king tides, Marin flood recovery slogs on
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