Town of Fairfax
County of Marin
Office of Emergency Management
Town Council Brief
Chris Zapata
Assistant County Executive
and
Steven Torrence
Director of Emergency Management
Planning for El Nino and the Convergence
Satellite sea-surface-height anomaly visualization of El Niño conditions.
Elevated
Sea Level
El Niño can
temporarily raise
coastal water levels,
increasing the
baseline that tides
and storms build on.
King Tides
Predictable high
tides can produce
flooding even
without a major
storm when water
levels are already
elevated.
Winter
Storms
Atmospheric rivers
and storm surge can
add rainfall, runoff,
wind, and waves
during high tide
windows.
Compounding Factors: Holidays, travelers, and
access to resources due to regional demand.
2 County Focus: Disasters occur when multiple hazards stack in the same timeframe.
Unified Preparedness and Communications
Regional coordination and information
sharing
Countywide sandbag website launched
Promote and elevate new resources and
tools via ReadyMarin
New ReadyMarin landing page for El Niño
Countywide Readiness Storm Checklist
Emergency.MarinCounty.gov
Community Outcome: Ensure all communities have access to preparedness information
3 Highlight: El Niño
Community Outreach
Townhall Series
Countywide Townhall Meetings
9 6 Planned
• Marin-specific Townhall Meeting
• Townhall with key staff
• In-Person and Virtual Sessions
• What is the County Doing
• How each community can plan for El Niño
• Collaboration with City / Town / Special District partners Focus Areas
Disaster Preparedness
Month Theme
2025 – 2026 Preparedness
Highlights and Impact
2026 County Emergency
Operations Plan
Alerting Improvements
El Nino Preparedness
2026 Disaster Preparedness Month Theme
“Get Ready With Marin”
7 This September, OEM is
Meeting the Community
Where they Are!
Countywide AlertMarin Test
Sep 26th at 10am
Senior Fair
CERT Courses
90-minute Trainings
Canal Prep Day
And many more events countywide!
County of Marin’s
Emergency
Operations Plan
New 2026 Emergency Plan
Lessons learned from the last 12 years
New adoption approved by County Board
of Supervisors and more Annexes coming
to the plan!
9 OEM’s Drive for the
Best Alert and
Warning - AlertMarin
Incorporating community feedback
Intentional and easy to use design
Equitable and “People First” System
AlertMarin by the Numbers
3.4 Million +
Text Messages
247,000+
Phone Calls
70+
Alerts
As of August 13, 2026
11 emergency.marincounty.gov/see-latest-alerts
New AlertMarin Dashboard
Enhancing Public Alerting Adaptability
Impact: Providing additional avenues for targeted, proactive notifications 12 Enhancements
to AlertMarin
emergency.marincounty.gov/see-latest-alerts
Call-back functionality to
listen to previous alerts
Portal with alerts and the
locations where alerts
were sent
All text, voice calls,
emails, and banners in
English and Spanish
Enhancements to the
Emergency Portal
Optimized for cell phone use
Integrated with evacuation zones,
USGS earthquakes, statewide fire
perimeters, and surrounding
counties data
emergency.marincounty.gov
2026 Disaster Preparedness Month Theme
“Get Ready With Marin”
Thank you
Comments and Discussion
Emergency.MarinCounty.gov | ReadyMarin.org