Massive Waves Pound Some California Coast Cities, Causing Floods and Injuries

CNN describes them as "towering waves," driven into California's coastline by powerful storms and "posing a significant risk to people and structures along the coast."
Monstrous, 20-foot-plus waves on Thursday crashed over seawalls and swept away and injured several people, forced rescues and sent a damaging surge of water through coastal California streets.

Dangerous waves continued to slam the coast on Friday, forcing beaches to close. All Ventura County beaches will be closed through New Year's Eve because of the 15- to 20-foot waves expected along the central and Southern California coasts through Saturday evening... Sea levels have risen along most of the California coastline over the past century, NOAA data shows, as global temperatures climb and melt glaciers and ice sheets. Higher sea levels are making coastal flooding events worse and will continue to do so in the future.
The first round of dangerous waves hit alongside high tide Thursday morning. Several people were injured by a huge wave that slammed into Pierpont in the Ventura Beach area... Nearly 20 people were briefly swept away in the incident and eight people were taken to the hospital, Ventura officials said.
One bystander even filmed what CNN calls a"monster" wave, "the surge sweeping people and vehicles down the street... The massive waves pummeling the coastline, reeking havoc, flooding streets and businesses."
CNN's report also includes footage from nearly 300 miles north, showing a wave flooding a beachfront restaurant's courtyard in Santa Cruz, California. ("I just feel bad for the restaurants," says one local. "I know they just went through renovations from the last time this happened.") CNN's original article notes the sheriff's office there briefly issued an evacuation warning for some areas for part of Thursday, including one "where seawater filled beachside roadways and pushed against some homes, CNN affiliate KION reported."

And CNN's video report concludes by noting that "Parts of the California coast could see towering waves through the weekend, coastal flood and high surf alerts stretching from the southern border to the Bay Area."

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