High surf causes evacuations in vulnerable Stinson Beach
On Thursday morning, Donna Everhart and her husband Bryan Franklin woke up to a nightmare. Their street in Stinson Beach was flooded with water, as high surf and storm surges pummeled their neighborhood.
"It took my feet away from me," Everhart said. "I grabbed on to the fence until the water went away."
The couple moved to Stinson a year ago from Oakland, after falling in love with this charming seaside community.
"We've lived all over the world, and this was a no-brainer," she said.
But even though they were warned that their new home was prone to flooding, they never expected to experience it quite so quickly.
"We refer to it as a baptism, since we're new here in Stinson Beach," Everhart joked.
the water got close, but the house was spared, thanks to a handful of sandbags, delivered by the local Stinson Beach fire department.
Tucked between the Pacific Ocean and Bolinas Lagoon, this town of about 500 residents is one of Marin County's most vulnerable communities, with studies showing the beach here could be inundated by mid to late century.
On Thursday morning, the fire department issued an evacuation order for several neighborhoods as dangerous waves hit the coastline. the order was lifted several hours later.
Jesse Peri, the fire chief, said there was only one minor injury. But, other than that, the community dodged a bullet.
"We're on the downhill side of the high-high tide of the day and so we're fortunately looking like conditions are going to improve here in Stinson," he said.
Everhart said that even after all that water, the experience hasn't dampened her love for Stinson.
"it's a beautiful raw place to be," she said.