Hurricane-force waves smash California coast as tempest looms — with flash flood warnings

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Massive waves have started battering the Southern California coastline as experts warned homeowners to brace for flash flooding from a looming storm.

Former hurricane Rachel, currently downgraded to a tropical storm, sent huge swells into Long Beach overnight and into Thursday morning.

Video showed the waves slapping the coast with explosive force.

Tropical Storm Rachel will make landfall this weekend in Southern California, though it is unclear what level of storm will hit the mainland.

Current NOAA forecasts say it will stay a tropical storm, becoming the first such storm to make landfall in SoCal since 1939.

Coastal Flood Advisories are already in place for LA County Beaches, Ventura County Beaches, the Malibu Coast, and the Catalina and Santa Barbara Islands.

Coastal Flood Advisories are also in place for San Diego County Coastal Areas and Orange County Coastal areas.

Officials warn the storm will bring widespread rainfall, strong winds, and coastal flooding in SoCal. There is also a threat of flash and urban flooding. Swells will create “life-threatening” surf and rip-current conditions.

AccuWeather forecasts rainfall as heavy as 2 to 4 inches in the storm’s track.

The storm’s effect on the coast could be exacerbated by an ongoing “Kelvin wave,” a super-massive but regularly occurring wave that raises background sea levels for months by as much as a foot. Combined with Tropical Storm Rachel’s waves, it could have devastating effects.

“The Kelvin wave by itself will not cause flooding,” Dillon Amaya, an assistant professor at North Carolina State University’s Department of Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, told the LA Times. However, “if there are storms forecasted or a high tide coming up, that is when the Kelvin wave could exacerbate damages.”

The Long Beach peninsula is considered one of the most vulnerable areas. Long Beach officials are already urging residents to prepare for a storm again after Hurricane Marie and Polo damaged its coast.

Officials will distribute the sandbags Thursday through next Tuesday “out of an abundance of caution due to the potential coastal impacts, including hazardous swell combined with high tides, and increasing chance of light to moderate showers starting as early as Saturday night, Oct. 10, expected from Hurricane Rachel.”

Residents in low-lying areas in Long Beach are warned to prepare now.

Tropical Storm Rachel is currently located about 1440 kilometers west of the tip of Baja California. The storm’s track has it taking a turn towards SoCal and Mexico and it is expected to gradually weaken on the way. Current NOAA forecasts have it hitting Baja California and California late Saturday night.

Spaghetti models show some uncertainty in the tropical storm’s landfall. It could make landfall as far north as LA County or in Baja California, forecasters said.

On the bright side for SoCal residents, the ongoing heat wave is set to end going into this weekend.

Heat that once saw temps stay in the triple digits, breaking records for October, will go down into the 70s next week as the storm hits.

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