Marine flooding traps drivers as high tide submerges Shoreline Highway

The sky above Mill Valley was crystal blue, but the tidal waters were rising quickly.

So fast that Rich Sumrall jumped out of his orange Mini Cooper as he tried to pull out of the parking lot in front of the Club Evexia fitness center and onto Shoreline Highway, which on Tuesday morning was submerged under two feet of brackish pond. A brutal Imperial Tide had encroached on the Bay Area, flooding parts of San Francisco the previous afternoon and hitting North Bay with such intensity that several drivers had already been trapped.

It only took about half an hour for Shoreline Highway to go from a ribbon of dry asphalt to a lake. Around 11 a.m., crews blocked the road and buses no longer passed. Dozens of cars were apparently stuck in the parking lot in front of Evexia and Terra Outdoor Living. People who arrived that morning to work out said they brought their laptops and planned to work from the club’s back room, knowing they wouldn’t be able to leave. The mall and walking path had essentially become an island, surrounded on all sides by estuaries and waterlogged roads. Residents expected the water to be clear around 4 p.m.

Flooding is such a common and recurring problem that North Bay residents and workers accept it as a part of life. As San Francisco set a new high tide record this month at Crissy Field, water is overflowing roads and highways in Solano and Marin counties. Last week, crews closed a 10-mile stretch of Highway 37 between Mare Island and Sears Point to raise sections of it three feet. Evexia’s owners installed a webcam to alert guests of road conditions before they arrive.

“They are scheduling outdoor workouts this week,” said Amy Pertschuk, a club employee who lives in nearby Sausalito. She and her neighbors are already holding community meetings to prepare for a brutal El Niño this winter. She sees this week’s flooding as a warning sign.

“It will be completely covered in about half an hour,” Perschuk said, pointing toward the road. A few steps away, a cyclist dismounted to cross the link, his feet covered in protective plastic bags.

Sports fans stood in puddles of bloody grass, towels around their necks, watching in apparent horror as motorists pulled out of the parking lot, most of them in SUVs with big tires.

In contrast, Sumrall’s car was so low that it barely touched the ground. But he seemed determined. Leaving the engine running, he crabbed his way toward the sidewalk, his eyes darting across the flooded roadway as he searched for a way out. Two women approached and warned him to stay put. A cyclist arrived, riding almost completely underwater, glancing briefly at Sumrall with the same expression of frustrated indignation.

Sumrall decided to go for it. He got back into the Cooper, stepped on the gas, and took off down the flooded road as confidently as a crocodile entering an Everglades lagoon.

And then the car stopped. For one painful moment, it almost looked like the entire vehicle was going to sink, the water high enough to conceal the tires and overlap the wheel arches. Looking panicked, Sumrall began to push. A few men came out of nearby buildings to help.

“I have jumper cables if you need them,” said Ernie Hubbard, a Sausalito resident who arrived to watch the scene in his thigh-high waders. He and Hubbard lifted the hood of the wet car to check for salt water in the engine, damage that could require $15,000 in repairs, according to Steve Lite, owner of Steve’s Auto Car in Novato.

Having worked in North Bay for decades, Lite has seen its share of sea-damaged vehicles. Cars are at risk any time water flows halfway up their tires, Lite said, noting that tidal currents can seep into a vehicle’s air filters and damage the engine, a phenomenon called “hydraulic locking.” Modern cars are susceptible to further destruction because many have computers installed under their seats or in their floorboards. Seawater is particularly harmful, Lite said, because the salt is very corrosive.

“Mill Valley is one of those places where we’ve worked on cars so rusted from driving in ocean waters that the underside almost looks like it came from Michigan,” Lite said. He remembers a customer who brought in a Toyota Forerunner SUV, its engine completely destroyed after trying to cross a road where the tide was three feet deep.

The prospect of a costly repair bill disconcerted Ariana Munroe, who noticed her Volvo SUV’s sensors going off when she pulled into the Evexia parking lot shortly after 11 a.m.

“I started texting my husband to see if it was a problem,” Munroe said, anxiously glancing at her vehicle’s soggy tires. She had already realized that she would probably be stuck at the club until 4 p.m.

Workers at the nearby fitness and furniture center, as well as residents of nearby houseboats, said they are now accustomed to extreme weather events and roads that turn into lakes within twenty minutes. Many were obsessively checking tide times on their phones Tuesday morning, hoping for a dry window.

“I think by 1 p.m. the walking trail will be passable,” Hubbard said, looking worriedly at Sumrall’s engine. A sunbar angled over the Mini Cooper, deceptively warm and bright amid the soggy conditions.

“We’ll let this dry,” Hubbard said, nodding toward the hood and glancing at Sumrall, who then looked stricken. Running out of options, he began to make his way back towards the gym. The road would remain closed for at least two hours until the tide receded.