Marinscope
If you don’t like the weather in Marin, just wait a couple of weeks. Marin jumped from being in a severe drought and alarmingly low reservoirs to water and rain everywhere.
As 2022 began, the skies continued to pour rain throughout the county, coupled with “king tides” last weekend. The combination had first responders on alert and coastal authorities watching closely for trouble at docks and harbors.
High tide came Sunday mid-morning and was expected to reach 7.21 feet. Monday was just about the same.
Flooding came to the usual areas in Marin, including Lucky Drive in Greenbrae and China Camp.
On the plus side, the Marin Municipal Water District reported that its reservoirs measured at about 89% of capacity. That was on Dec. 29. That number is expected to increase at the next measuring.
It was only on Dec. 1 that Marin’s reservoir levels were at historic lows and Marin Water’s board of directors declared a water shortage emergency and adopted mandatory water use restrictions. The goal of the restrictions was to achieve a 40 percent reduction in water use districtwide.
Residential water use above Tier 1 was subject to penalties and outdoor irrigation is prohibited until May 31, 2022. Refilling of a completely drained swimming pool and the initial filling of any swimming pool for which application for a building permit was made after December 1, 2021, will not be allowed.
Today, however, the drought is all but over. The North Marin Water District statistics showed that last fiscal year (July 2020 to July 2021) rainfall stood at a measly 1.93 inches. But this fiscal year (July 2021 to July 2022) over 16 inches of rain had already fallen.
Ahead of the rain, the Southern Marin Fire Protection District warned residents that the rain was coming and the tides would be higher than usual.
“Based on tide predictions published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration(NOAA), tides levels that could be high enough to cause roadway flooding in parts of Marin, primarily coastal areas, are expected December 30, 2021 to January 5, 2022,” the district warned.
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