Landslides, flash floods and raging seas: is California ready for the ravages of El Niño?

A mix of natural disasters could all befall the state at once as it finds itself in the crosshairs of the climate phenomenon On a cloudless autumn afternoon, sunlight sparkled on the water that had quietly swallowed a busy intersection to the north of San Francisco, as the surrounding rush-hour traffic slowed to a painful crawl.

There were no crashing waves or storm surges to blame for the flood. Marin county was…