Map showing locations of damaging landslides in San Mateo County, California, resulting from 1997-98 El Nino rainstorms

Heavy rainfall associated with a strong El Nino caused over $150 million in landslide damage in the 10-county San Francisco Bay region during the winter and spring of 1998. A team of USGS scientists collected information on landslide locations and damage costs. About $55 million in damages were assessed in San Mateo County. The only fatality attributed to landsliding in the region during the period occurred in San Mateo County near Loma Mar.