Weather
High Tides, Dangerous Surf Spur Some Coastal Evacuations
Meteorologists said the worst of the swells happened Thursday morning as waves caused flooding, road closures and evacuations.
MARIN COUNTY, CA — While surf conditions up and down the West Coast remained perilous Thursday, conditions should not get worse as of the afternoon, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service said.
The National Weather Service issued a High Surf Warning for the Central and Northern California coastline that is in effect until 3 a.m. Friday. A few evacuation warnings and orders were issued Thursday but have since been rescinded.
Evacuation orders were put out for areas around Stinson Beach in Marin County on Thursday morning, though the orders were lifted around 1:45 p.m. Evacuation warnings were also lifted for Santa Cruz County residents in the areas of Capitola Village, Pajaro Dunes, Seacliff State Beach and Rio Del Mar as of 3:15 p.m.
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According to Alexis Clouser, a meteorologist with the weather service, some coastal areas are seeing 28- to 33-foot breaking waves that have caused flooding, road closures, and evacuations.
However, Clouser said the worst of the swells happened Thursday morning.
"High tide was between about 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. for the regions, so we are we're on the backside now," said Clouser. "The highest wave heights we probably would have seen would have been early this morning. That being said, we don't have a good way to measure breaking wave heights."
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Clouser wanted to stress that even though evacuations might be lifted and conditions are becoming less dramatic, everyone should steer clear of the waves.
Images of "wave watchers" being engulfed by swells have been shared on social media Thursday, as well as intrepid surfers taking advantage of the massive waves at Mavericks Beach, a world-famous surfing site in El Granada in San Mateo County.
"We do want encourage people to stay away from the water and it's not a safe time to be in the water or near the water -- the conditions are deadly," said Clouser. "Please stay off rocks, piers, jetties. It's very unsafe and you can easily washed down by a wave."
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