As Marin County residents prepare for what could be increased flooding this winter, officials have developed a plan to use an existing reservoir as a buffer for the heavy rains to come. And on Monday, they got a small reminder of why that may be necessary.
By noon, the water was already pouring into the street in Larkspur. It wasn’t a king tide, but a graph on the NOAA website showed it was about 2 feet higher than expected. Fueled by El Niño, or Kelvin waves, or some other unseen force of nature, Wendie Odwyer was in a good spot to see it happen.
“Not a normal high tide,” she said, looking at the water seeping under the sandbags guarding the back parking lot. “No, this is special.”…