Residents of San Francisco were forced into a desperate scramble to protect their properties this weekend as severe flooding submerged roads and neighbourhoods following a rare celestial event.
'The Worst I've Ever Seen It': Residents React to Chaos
The San Francisco Bay Area was battered by heavy winds and exceptionally high tides on Saturday morning. The tide peaked at around 10:30am, measuring a staggering 2.5 feet higher than usual. This led to widespread inundation, with floodwaters swallowing streets and highways.
Julia Pfahl, 36, arrived at her workplace only to find it flooded with four inches of water. Speaking to the San Francisco Chronicle, she said, 'It’s the worst I’ve ever seen it. Everyone is in a panic, no one knows how to drive in it.' She reported seeing a car near the Holiday Inn with water reaching its windows.
The disruption extended beyond the city. Flash flooding and mudslides forced the closure of Highway 101 in Santa Barbara County in both directions.
The Celestial Cause: A Rare 'Super Moon Trifecta'
The extreme tides, known as king tides, were amplified by a unique astronomical phenomenon. The first super moon of 2026, called the Wolf Moon, occurred on Saturday as the moon reached its closest orbital point to Earth, approximately 225,130 miles away.
Typically, the moon orbits at around 240,000 miles. This event coincided with the Earth's own closest annual approach to the Sun, a dual occurrence not recorded since 1912, according to EarthSky. This 'super moon trifecta' exerted a powerful gravitational pull, resulting in the dramatic tidal surge.
Community and Official Response to the Flooding
Authorities issued a flood warning across the Bay Area and Central Coast, valid until 2pm on Sunday, with advisories for San Francisco and San Pablo bays extended until 3pm on Monday.
Images from the area showed homes and cars partially underwater, while some resourceful residents took to kayaks to navigate the flooded streets. In Mill Valley, public works employee Mark Bartel, with six months on the job, stated, 'It’s the first time I’ve ever seen it this nasty,' having witnessed nothing of this scale before.
Jon Borges, a 28-year-old Sausalito resident who lives on a sailboat, received a call from a stranded friend at the peak of the tide. While familiar with high water, he acknowledged the unexpected severity. 'We’re just waiting for the water to go down enough to get a tow truck,' he told the outlet.
The flooding caused significant travel chaos, with parts of Interstate 80 submerged under two feet of water, demonstrating the profound impact of these combined natural events on urban infrastructure.
