Climate News

Record tides flood California's coast, from San Diego to San Francisco Bay

Record-breaking high tides have flooded low-lying parts of the California coast this week, from San Diego to the San Francisco Bay Area. The Guardian reports that seawater submerged streets, flooded homes and businesses, and blocked important transport corridors and train routes.

In Marin county, north of San Francisco, kayakers and paddleboarders were seen gliding along normally busy roads on Monday and Tuesday, and several drivers had to be rescued from floating cars, The Guardian reports. Its aerial video showed coastal communities preparing for days of flooding as water levels began to rise on Monday. The Boston Globe carried the story as a national report on the tidal records.

The flooding comes as the US faces a potentially historic El Niño this winter, which can bring stormier weather to California. The Guardian separately reports warnings from former officials and scientists that sweeping cuts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) under President Donald Trump have weakened the country's ability to forecast and respond to extreme weather.

How each outlet framed it

• The Guardian — the scale and the images: kayak commutes and rescues, plus the El Niño and NOAA context.
• Boston Globe — the record-breaking tides as a national news story.

What we don't know yet: the full cost of the damage, and how often tides like these will return as sea levels rise and winter storms add to high water.