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Marin County officials are trying to temper expectations they can contain all property damage and health risks from El Niño-related flooding.

“The county will help and the flood district will help,” Robin Bartlett, assistant county public works director, said at a packed Flood Zone 9 Advisory Board meeting Thursday.

“I don’t want people staying in their homes when it is unsafe to do so because they think that we can stop the tides or anything like that,” he said. “I’m being very cautious and very upfront with you.”

Marin has 10 flood zones whose district boards advise the county. Zone 9 encompasses Fairfax, Sleepy Hollow, San Anselmo, Ross, Kentfield, Larkspur and Corte Madera.

Bartlett’s comments came after two dozen residents in the Larkspur Marina area recounted how king tides in January flooded homes and streets with water and sewage. Some homeowners said they spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on repairs. Others said they were trapped with infants or became ill from exposure to wastewater.

The neighborhood has rebuilt lagoon bulkheads and hired consultants who concluded the area needs a major pumping system to counter the anticipated flooding on Thanksgiving and Christmas. The engineers suggest deploying four 12-inch diameter and eight 6-inch diameter pumps plus thousands of sandbags.

“We’re doing everything we can to get the right thing done for our neighborhood,” said Natasha Chalmers, who also is a Larkspur planning commissioner. “But there are a couple of measures in that report that we cannot do on our own, and we’ve come to you to try and get help.”

Securing high-volume pumps and sufficient sandbags top the list.

Earlier, Bartlett summarized the county’s efforts. They included coordinating local, county and state agencies to identify vulnerable areas and take preemptive steps and plan crisis responses.

In addition to urging people to clean drains and prepare their private property – especially if it borders creeks — he said sandbags are now available at distribution centers for the public.

“We are also taking the delivery of a sandbag filling machine that hopefully will be delivered to the county tomorrow,” he said. “That’ll go a long way to help … but it’s not a magic cure.”

The county is positioning 11 6-inch-diameter pumps for flood-prone areas, Bartlett said. Public works teams are studying temporary barriers. Crews will work over the holidays.

Bartlett said the county could not set aside pumps for the Larkspur Marina neighborhood.

“In terms of the flooding and pumps, we cannot promise you that we will be able to deliver a pump and that it will sit there at the ready waiting for you,” he said. “However, we’re aware of the problem. And we do have pumps, and they are on standby, and we will take them to the area of greatest need to use them, and that will be regardless of jurisdiction.”

Bartlett also said deploying public flood-control assets on private property is dicey.

“The practical reality is that building a flood wall along the bay in people’s backyards is extremely difficult,” he said. “There are not only logistical problems of getting back there. There’re all kinds of obstacles and things that prevent it from being a full barrier. So, a lot of these locations are very challenging.”

Flood Zone 9 has about $5 million in uncommitted reserves for flood projects, Chalmers said. She requested $350,000 to $400,000 “that we need for this winter.”

“One of the asks I have tonight is not necessarily you giving us one of your pumps, but giving us access to funds so we can run these pumps ourselves,” she said.

“I want to touch upon Natasha’s comments about helping ourselves,” said Matt Guerrero, a neighbor. “We are helping ourselves. We are helping our community.”

“I was feeling a little discouraged, I’ve got to be honest, when you said you can’t guarantee that we’re going to get any sort of pumps,” he said. “We need help.”

Bartlett asked Chalmers how many pumps and what size were needed, according to her consultants. She said four 12-inch pumps and eight 6-inch pumps.

“Off the top of my head… that’s all of our pumps,” he said. “All of them that we have that are mobile, and so that’s going to be a difficult proposition.”

During the flood advisory board’s financial discussions, it did not take an action on recommending the neighborhood receive the requested funds.

Gabe Paulson, Flood Zone 9 chair and Larkspur vice mayor, said Friday he wanted to explore if installing barriers could lessen the need for pumps.

The first priority is protecting lives and public health, he said. But county and local officials want to minimize damage.

“Have we made improvements? Yes,” Paulson said. “Have we made enough improvements? Well, up to a point.”

“This neighborhood has done a lot of work to try and ready itself,” Chalmers said. “But we’ve not reached a point and said, ‘Look, help us.’”