On Jan. 3, Jill Sherman and her children watched the San Francisco Bay rise and rise around their Sausalito houseboat.

The water inundated the parking lot, bike path and roadways that provide access to the floating homes. But Sherman wanted a closer look at the unbelievable tide line.

“I had this idea that we could kayak the bike path, so I put my two smallest kids in the kayak and off we went,” Sherman told SFGATE during a phone call. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Advertisement

Article continues below this ad

Jill Sherman and her kids kayak over the bike trail between Sausalito and Mill Valley, Calif., on Jan. 3, 2026. 

Over the first few days of the year, water levels in the San Francisco Bay Area hit record highs as the winter storms collided with king tides. Marin County, one of the hardest-hit areas, tallied over $4.3 million in damage from coastal and inland flooding across its central and southern zones, including a costly levee failure.

The storms demonstrated how Marin, historically one of the wealthiest counties in California, still faces enormous obstacles to preparing its extensive coastline for climate change.

Marin officials have put significant resources over time into studying the anticipated sea-level rise.

Advertisement

Article continues below this ad

Already, San Francisco’s tidal station has recorded about a 10-inch rise in bay waters since 1900, according to the National Weather Service. And climate change is projected to cause between around 3 to 7 feet of sea-level rise in the Bay Area, compared with 2000 levels, by the end of the century.

The Transportation Authority of Marin released a study in 2025 evaluating adaptation planning options, and the city of San Rafael — home to the vulnerable Canal neighborhood and other particularly low-lying areas — published a feasibility study in December.

Floodwaters cover the roadway in Sausalito, Calif., on Jan. 2, 2026. 

Yet none of Marin’s jurisdictions — nor........

© SFGate