The Sausalito City Council has approved a “proclamation of local emergency” to more nimbly respond to El Niño flooding and storm risks.

The move on Tuesday ratified a declaration last week by Brandon Phipps, the interim city manager.

“On Sept. 21, the governor declared a statewide emergency ahead of what could be a historic El Niño season,” Phipps wrote in a staff report. “On Oct. 16, as director of emergency services, I proclaimed a local emergency for this city. State law requires the county to ratify it within seven days.”

San Rafael declared a similar local emergency on Oct. 5, and Larkspur was expected to do so on Wednesday.

The Sausalito proclamation enables it to more closely coordinate with county operations during increasingly high king tides expected next week and on Thanksgiving and Christmas.

“It activates our emergency organization and plans,” Phipps said. “It allows me to issue temporary orders to protect life and property such as closing flooded streets. It lets us redeploy city staff across departments and obtain supplies quickly, and it supports requests for aid and state resources.”

“What it does not do is perhaps just as important,” he said. “It does not bring disaster funding now. … Any reimbursement will depend on an actual event and documented damage. So we’re making sure that we’re already doing that: documenting current conditions, photographing what is currently there and tracking costs.”

City officials briefly discussed other preparations underway. For one, the Department of Public Works is giving away sandbags at Martin Luther King Jr. Park.

For another, several departments are working with property owners along Varda Landing Circle to raise the private drive as a levee to prevent king tides from flooding the neighborhood. The project includes installing a tide gate at the end of the Coloma Street canal, which drains hillside runoff west of the shoreline area.

“The gates themselves need time for fabrication and delivery, so we’re also lining up a contractor if needed to install a cofferdam and pumps in the canal before the Thanksgiving tides,” Phipps said. “This would be considered a hyper short-term measure with the tide gates to follow.”

“Temporary pumps will be on hand when heavy rains and high tides coincide,” he said. “The estimated cost here is about $280,000.”