High surf, flood advisories for California coast amid big waves

California’s first huge swells of the winter are wreaking havoc on the state’s coastline as an incoming atmospheric river storm forces evacuations amid flooding of beach and coastal roads.

Marin County residents in the Calles Pinos, Pradero, Sierra, Onda Resaca, Ribera and Embarcadero areas as well as Calle de Arroyo were ordered to temporarily evacuate Thursday morning due to high risk of wave damage and coastal flooding. Evacuated residents were told to head to the Stinson Beach Community Center.

Santa Cruz County issued an evacuation warning Thursday on X, formerly known as Twitter, for coastal areas near Seacliff State Beach because of flooding.

Within the evacuation area, the tourist hot spot known as the Rio del Mar Esplanade is currently flooded with several inches of stormwater. On X, the California Highway Patrol cautions that residents avoid the area and not attempt to drive across or through.

According to the National Weather Service’s coastal flood warning for the Bay Area, large breaking waves are causing significant flooding of beach and coastal roads. The waves are depositing large amounts of debris and causing road closures.

In Monterey County, park rangers closed Point Lobos State Natural Reserve on Thursday, saying high surf was washing into trails and rendering the entire park unsafe. The closure sent caravans of tourists heading south on Highway 1 to safer places further down the coast. Bluffs that were normally sparsely populated were bursting with tourists, watching as waves crashed 10 and 20 feet over rocks just off shore.

In the nearby city of Carmel, highway patrol and police cars blocked a section of the shoreline drive from traffic because of waves crashing up the beach and onto the shore. Dozens of people stood on a hilly neighborhood in Carmel Point, trying to capture photos of the giant waves, which were smashing into houses and crashing up beach staircases.

Despite the warnings from authorities, the extreme weather and massive waves have drawn surfers to the water and onlookers to the shores.

Just north of the town Half Moon Bay, on the coast between San Francisco and Silicon Valley, the surf break known as Mavericks hosts some of the largest waves in the U.S. and attracts big-wave surfers from around the world.

More than a dozen surfers were spotted catching the waves at Mavericks Thursday morning, with thousands of spectators gathered at the cliffs to watch, said Tina Lourenco, who works at Old Princeton Landing — a popular restaurant and bar for locals and surfers in Half Moon Bay.

“There’s a ton of people right now. You can’t even park in the area,” she said. “Lots of families are coming down. It’s really exciting.”

She estimates about 10 jet skis were also on the waters to aid the surfers. Old Princeton Landing, just a short walk from the water, has also seen an uptick in customers in the past several days, Lourenco said.

“The vibe here is definitely insane, a lot of energy and excitement, and we’ll definitely get some of the surfers in here at the end of the day,” she said.

Brian Overfelt, Old Princeton Landing owner and former surfer, has lived in Half Moon Bay for nearly 50 years and oversaw the nation’s premier big wave surf event, Titans of Mavericks, as a board member until the contest was canceled in 2017. He’s seen it all, but called Thursday’s conditions at Half Moon Bay “gnarly and dangerous.”

“Somebody could die at any moment,” he said. “The waves are so big out there that it’s unruly.”

Waves at Mavericks reached about 50 to 60 feet Thursday afternoon, he said. It’s the kind of waves that big-wave surfers travel the world for, but Overfelt said the rain and south winds make the waves choppier and more dangerous for surfers.

Multiple surfers have died at Mavericks in the past several decades, most famously the 36-year-old Hawaiian legend Mark Foo in 1994. Foo’s death sent shock waves throughout the surfing community and pushed the secret surfing spot for locals into the international spotlight.

In conditions such as these, everyone in the water, including surfers and those on jet skis, should be fully trained in water rescue, Overfelt said.

“If you’re a photographer on a jet ski and you don’t have rescue equipment, you really should not be out there,” he said. “Anyone out there should be ready and trained to do full rescue, no matter what you’re doing.”

Despite the unruly conditions, the atmosphere at Half Moon Bay and the surfing community this week is one of excitement.

“This is what they live for,” he said. “Kids are calling for boat rides. People are calling to borrow my jet skis. The energy is in the air.”

The National Weather Service office in Monterey Bay encouraged beachgoers to stay out and away from the water.

“These conditions are very dangerous, I would go so far as to say they’re deadly on the coast,” said NWS meteorologist Alexis Clouser.

Visitors to the shores should keep a “healthy distance” from the water and stay off rocks, piers and jetties because if a wave washes up it has the potential to sweep a person out into the ocean, she said.

“If you do happen to see [a person] in the water or let’s say a dog, don’t go into the water after them. Call 9-1-1 and wait for a professional,” Clouser said.

The high surf in Northern California isn’t unusual for this time of year, meteorologists say.

In January, a series of atmospheric river storms caused high surf and flooding that left beaches in shambles and destroyed sections of piers in the seaside town of Capitola and in Seacliff.

During the current storm, the San Francisco Bay Area coast could see waves up to 40 feet in some locations. The National Weather Service issued a warning for residents to stay away from rocks, jetties, piers and other waterside infrastructure.

In Southern California, the waves aren’t expected to be as big, but high surf is expected through Saturday, meteorologists say. In Ventura County, waves of up to 12 feet have already been reported, and the Central Coast has seen 18- to 20-foot swells, said Mike Wofford with the National Weather Service’s Oxnard office.

A high surf advisory went into affect at 4 a.m. Thursday for Point Conception in Santa Barbara County and Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach and Palos Verdes Peninsula beaches in Los Angeles County, all of which can expect sets of 15- to 20-foot waves and dangerous rip currents.

“We’re expecting the highest waves today to be arriving either late morning or early afternoon and then, maybe some drops in height tomorrow, but still well above normal,” Wofford said.

The waves will pick back up Saturday when another surge of higher swells arrives.

There have been really strong storms over the Pacific Ocean that “we don’t necessarily see because they move up to the north or go in some other direction,” Wofford said.

While the storms are moving through, strong winds can form big waves, which “propagate out along, and the waves just come barreling right in,” he said.

The ingredients for high walls of water include strong wind, time and distance.

Clouser said strong winds that blow for a long time over the ocean surface generates a swell. When the winds continue to strengthen, the swell gets larger as it approaches the coastline and into the beach.

“If you have, for example, a really steep sloped beach, you’re going to have higher waves heights that break [going] up the coast,” she said.

A recent study found that the extreme waves along the California coast are due to climate change, and an increase in ocean temperatures, which is resulting in “climate-induced heightened wave activity.”

Along with the high surf advisory for the Los Angeles-area beaches, the National Weather Service issued a coastal flood advisory through 10 p.m. Saturday.

Although no structural or road damage is expected, there is an increased risk for drowning, the agency warned. Rip currents can pull swimmers and surfers out to sea, and large breaking waves can cause injuries, wash people off beaches or rocks and capsize small boats.

“Never turn your back to the ocean,” said the National Weather Service on X.

Staff writer Jessica Garrison contributed to this story.