photo credit: Noah Abrams/KRCB
A temporary pump station set up in Marin City, pictured on 5 January, 2026.

Marin County got a taste of its forecast climate future this past weekend.

A combination of king tides, winter storms and high winds closed parts of U.S. Highway 101 in the area, flooded homes and vehicles, and left whole neighborhoods stranded islands.

On Monday morning Congressman Jared Huffman and Marin County officials visited some of the hardest-hit areas around Larkspur and Corte Madera.

"It wasn't perfect, but you know, we kept it at bay for the most part," Ryan Davis, general manager of the Fitness SF gym on Fifer Avenue in Corte Madera, explained to Huffman. 

The Fitness SF building sits at low elevation near Lucky Drive, Corte Madera Creek, and Highway 101. The area was penetrated by flood waters over the weekend, inundating buildings and choking traffic on 101.

The surge of flood water laid bare the vulnerability of Marin's main transportation corridor.

In Marin City, the county is using a temporary pump station to remove standing water on low lying arterial roads next to the freeway.

Marin County executive Derrick Johnson said the plan is to put permanent pumps in place.

"That project that we are working on is eventually designed to be able to reduce the amount of flooding that happens on Highway 101, which is what historically has been an issue for the last 30 years," Johnson said.

Marin City is working with the US Army Corps of Engineers on plans for a flood resilience project.

photo credit: Noah Abrams/KRCB
U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael) speaks with 
SF Fitness gym manager Ryan Davis on 5 Jan. 2026.

It's one of just 12 communities in the country selected as part of a congressional program - funded entirely by the Army Corps.

Even with the federal funding, Johnson said Marin County is still staring at the need for major investments.

photo credit: Noah Abrams/KRCB
Tidal waters push up to the parking lot of a marina 
neighborhood near Marin City on 5 January, 2026.

"The investments that Marin County is going to have to make over the next ensuing decades are going to have to be tens of millions, [if] not billions of dollars," Johnson said.

Johnson said the county is looking at a variety of flood control methods.

"Whether it's you know levee systems in combination with pumps," Johnson said. "Adaptation, I think the long-term approach is really going to be born out of our regional shoreline adaptation plan."

Huffman noted modeling from the National Weather Service and the county, about tide levels and storm surge was not totally accurate, with flood waters reaching areas they weren't expected to during the tidal surge.

National Weather Service Meteorologist Brian Garcia said modeling is based on patterns of the past. Garcia said those patterns are no longer reliable because the climate is changing, and that sea level in the area is increasing on an average of about 2 millimeters per year.

Johnson said it's critical now for residents to be prepared, like moving vehicles to higher ground away from flood waters, or placing sandbags to protect low lying structures during major storms or tidal surges.

On the preparation front, county officials are embracing an all-hands-on-deck approach to adapt Marin's shoreline to a changing sea level.

Johnson said long term community planning is key, and that private efforts can be a factor. He pointed out one marina near Marin City that privately financed a project to raise it's parking lot above the flood plain.

In the here and now, Johnson said Marin County is still calculating the cost of recent flood damages and is preparing an emergency declaration to the Governor's office for Corte Madera.