Twenty-two homes flooded in Forest Knolls and Woodacre during last Thursday’s storm, with the day’s rainfall capping five inches in Lagunitas and nearly seven inches on Mount Tamalpais. San Geronimo Creek overflowed in parts of Forest Knolls during the late afternoon and completely engulfed Castro Street and Morales, Juarez and Montezuma Avenues. Jim Baum, owner of the Farm Stand, had to blitz between his business and home across the street to combat the flooding. He said the creek behind his home rose 20 feet and at the storm’s peak, he watched it rise a full foot in a span of five minutes. Carole Alter, whose home on Juarez Ave. flooded, could only grab some cash and one of her two Russian blue cats (the other one is still missing). Gofundme.com crowdfunding pages have been set up for both Mr. Baum and Ms. Alter. Residents in the area self-evacuated with the exception of one elderly woman who required assistance from the Sheriff’s Office. No injuries were reported. The intense weather conditions forced the closure of a section of Highway 1 between Olema and Point Reyes Station and sheriff’s deputies were turning cars away at the Olema end of Bear Valley Road.  A portion of Lucas Valley Road a mile west of Big Rock closed through the night after a fallen tree landed on power lines and part of Panoramic Highway near Stinson Beach was temporarily decommissioned so mud and blockage could be removed. Platform Bridge Road near Tocaloma also closed that evening, though a Bolinas woman accidentally drove her car into water there, totaling her hybrid. Little structural damage was reported to county facilities; Woody Baker-Cohn, a special projects coordinator for the Sheriff’s Office of Emergency Services, said the value of damages will not be assessed, since they were not significant enough. Mark Brown, deputy chief with Marin County Fire Department, said the storm exceeded expectations and extra dispatchers were deployed. He said all locations in West Marin that provide sandbags were operating, but that “people who live in these water-prone areas tend to be prepared.” The storm provided a crucial trial run for the Valley Emergency Readiness Group, which was able to test its radio system used to coordinate emergency response efforts. Jim Fazackerley, VERG’s chair, said the group is in its early stages of development. “It was a wake-up call to get these disaster response plans we’ve developed on the fly documented, formalized and trained,” he said.