Weird Weather and Natural Disasters

Most of us do not think about disasters until they strike. A severe or heavy rainstorm, coupled with a high tide, can quickly turn Miller Avenue, Camino Alto, and the Manzanita Park and Ride into lakes. A low snow level paired with several freezing days can bring snow to Mount Tamalpais. Mix high temperatures with low rainfall and you get drought and wildfires.

Mill Valley, like any other city, has suffered its share of the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. Over the years, our little haven has been deluged by floods, parched by drought, roasted by fires, frozen by snowstorms, and rocked by earthquakes. But we pulled through each disaster, emerged from the rubble, dusted ourselves off, and became better, stronger and more prepared for the next round.

This exhibit of 30 photos, postcards, and newspaper articles looks back on several natural disasters and climatological catastrophes. Some were minor events (though they did not seem so at the time) that have been long forgotten. Others, like the 1906 and 1989 earthquakes, are so burned into the public consciousness that we compare and contrast every subsequent shake to those Big Ones. Some even have positive outcomes. The two-year drought in the late 1970s forced Marin County residents to rethink how we used scarce resources and put us on a path that led us to become as eco-friendly as we are today.

Research and Text: Alexandria Brown
Design: Cate Drayitt-Mayfield, Sean Mooney, Joey della Santina