Severe weather hit the Bay Area on Saturday morning. San Francisco had its first tornado warning, and many areas experienced devastating winds and flooding. The storm, coupled with a day of high tides, meant flooding was particularly severe in low-lying communities like San Rafael. King tides occur when the sun, moon and Earth are in alignment, exerting the greatest possible pull on the ocean. The San Rafael-based Canal Alliance and the San Francisco-based Exploratorium hosted a collaborative scientific event in San Rafael on Saturday to track the effects of king tides. “It’s an important opportunity to see some of the vulnerabilities ourselves, and there are places where we’re already seeing flooding,” said Carly Finkle, senior policy manager at Canal Alliance. “Any opportunity to really invest in infrastructure to keep the community safe will be huge projects. And we need community awareness, buy-in and support to help guide these projects.” Kate Hagemann, a climate adaptation and resiliency planner in San Rafael, said the flooding along Mooring Road is “the highest water level” that has occurred have seen them in recent years. “The combination of the tide, this rain and the wind – it’s all piling up. So we see more flooding than with other king tides,” said Hagemann. “The most important thing is the safety of people and that is of course a concern. Right now we couldn’t get a fire truck or an ambulance down that street if we needed to.”

SAN RAFAEL, Calif. –

Severe weather hit the Bay Area on Saturday morning. San Francisco had its first tornado warning, and many areas experienced devastating winds and flooding.

The storm, coupled with a day of high tides, meant flooding was particularly severe in low-lying communities like San Rafael.

King tides occur when the sun, moon and Earth are in alignment, exerting the greatest possible pull on the ocean.

The San Rafael-based Canal Alliance and the San Francisco-based Exploratorium hosted a collaborative scientific event in San Rafael on Saturday to track the effects of king tides.

Sarah McGrew, Hearst TV

“It’s an important opportunity to see some of the vulnerabilities ourselves, and there are places where we’re already seeing flooding,” said Carly Finkle, senior policy manager at Canal Alliance. “Any options to really invest in infrastructure to protect the community will be huge projects. And we need community awareness, buy-in and support to help guide these projects.”

Kate Hagemann, a climate adaptation and resiliency planner in San Rafael, said the flooding along Mooring Road was “the highest water level” she has seen in recent years.

Sarah McGrew, Hearst TV

“The combination of the tide, this rain and the wind – it’s all piling up. So we see more flooding than with other king tides,” said Hagemann. “The most important thing is the safety of people and that is of course a concern. Right now we couldn’t get a fire truck or an ambulance down that street if we needed to.”