Dangerous Waves Return to Central Coast Despite Hurricane Switching Directions
SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif. (KEYT) – Just when beach lovers thought the latest hurricane threat was turning out to sea, a lasting message is crashing back along the California coastline in the next few days.
The National Weather Service has an alert out, especially for those who think it will be an easy summer day at the waterfront.
Of course thousands of people in coastal cities and their visitors are heading to the beach to “beat the heat,” caution needs to be packed along with water, sunscreen and a hat.
Swells from hurricane activity in the Pacific will generate elevated surf across south and southwest-facing beaches as well as very strong and dangerous rip currents.
This will especially hit Ventura’s Surfer’s Point and possibly find its way into Santa Barbara’s waterfront past the Channel Islands. There are also concerns along beaches in Northern Santa Barbara County and Southern San Luis Obispo County.
Rocks and jetty areas where the public enjoys exploring are dangerous in these conditions. Sneaker waves could knock you into the water or cause an injury.
Rebecca Heller from Los Angeles visited Butterfly Beach with her family Tuesday and said, “there’s going to be bigger waves and more power in the waves and some locations can’t handle that size.”
With the Category Five size of Hurricane Genevieve in the Pacific she said, “at a point break that might that might be a good thing for a surfer but at a beach break that might be a terrible thing. That’s going to be a mess and dangerous, really dangerous for people who don’t what they are doing.”
A teenager who enjoys swimming and surfing said she won’t test the power of the ocean when it is changing by a storm system. Lucy Gallagher said, “keeping yourself up and paddling with huge waves that would be a lot and I would get pushed back and thrown back in. If I was swimming in the ocean and all of a sudden I see these big waves that are hurling me then I would get out.”
Courtney Johnson chose a quieter Montecito beach and said, “it is much more accessible, and you can leave pretty quickly if you need to.”
Some areas of Southern California have already had thousands of rescues by lifeguards since last weekend. Johnson said, “and it makes me feel for the lifeguards as well and they need to be paid more. There needs to be a lot more lifeguards out there.” She said it was, “insane the amount of people I saw out there with the giant waves.”
Her advice was also to let the lifeguards handle the rescues with their training.
Johnson said, “when people come out to help the lifeguards, lifeguards are telling them ‘no’ don’t come out here don’t become another casualty out here.”
The water temperatures over Southern California have been going up in the last week. Readings from San Diego, Santa Monica and Santa Barbara have been 70 to 78 degrees. That’s significantly higher than the normal range of 60 to 68 degrees.
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