High tides and heavy rains have flooded parts of the Bay Area, prompting road closures and rescues of people trapped in cars.
Five northern counties remained under a flood watch, with up to 3in (7.6cm) of rain possible through Monday night in areas that have been drenched off and on since around Christmas, said the National Weather Service office in Eureka. At least a foot (0.3 meters) of snow was likely in the mountains.
A king tide, a term for the highest predicted tide of a year at a coastal location, caused floodwaters to rise to 2.56ft on Saturday in San Francisco, the highest since 1998, the SFGate reported.
“This is near record for the San Francisco Bay Area,” Rachel Kennedy, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, told the news organization.
More rain is expected in northern California over the next day, and the National Weather Service issued a coastal flood advisory for the Bay Area that remains in effect until 3pm on Monday.
On Saturday, the San Francisco fire department rescued an adult in the water clinging to a rope, the city’s emergency management department posted on social media.
Some people kayaked along swamped streets, while others waded through water above their knees. Authorities were called to assist when cars got stuck in water as high as 3ft and 4ft, Marin county sheriff’s Sgt Michael Dobbins said on Saturday.
“I’ve been around here for the King Tides and I’ve never seen it this high. Never,” Jeremy Hager of San Rafael told KTVU-TV.
Flooding was reported across Marin, Sonoma, Alameda, San Mateo and San Francisco counties.
Colin McCarthy, a storm chaser who operates the @US_Stormwatch account on X, shared footage of water rushing through San Carlos, 25 miles south of San Francisco, on Sunday afternoon.
“It’s the worst I’ve ever seen it,” Julia Pfahl, a 36-year-old who works at a local surf shop, told the San Franscisco Chronicle. “Everyone is in a panic, no one knows how to drive in it – I saw a car by the Holiday Inn … with water up to its windows. Did you really think you could drive through that”?
Southern California has also seen recent heavy rain cause flooding and mudslides. Hundred had to flee a homeless shelter in San Diego this week because of flooding.
Farther south in Santa Barbara county, a key highway was reopened on Sunday after it was blocked for most of the weekend near Goleta due to a series of mudslides. A man died after he was swept into a creek during the storm, the sheriff’s office said on Saturday.
Parts of Santa Barbara county received more than 4in of rain over two days, the weather service said on Sunday. The heavy rainfall caused all flights into and out of the Santa Barbara airport to be canceled after several runways flooded.
Rain is also forecasted to continue in the southern part of the state through Tuesday.
“Millions in Southern California are living through one of the wettest starts to winter on record,” McCarthy wrote.
The Associated Press contributed reporting
