Powerful storm hits California's central coast: one fatality
Kyiv • UNN
A storm with hurricane-force winds and waves of up to 18 meters hit the California coast. One person was killed, another went missing, and part of the Santa Cruz pier collapsed.
A powerful storm hit the central coast of California in the United States on Monday, causing flooding and strong surf, UNN reports with reference to AP.
Details
The storm was expected to bring hurricane-force winds and waves up to 18 meters high as it gained strength from California to the Northwest Pacific. Some cities in California were ordered to evacuate coastal homes and hotels on Monday as forecasters warned that storm surges would continue to intensify throughout the day.
"We expect what's coming at us to be more serious than what we had this morning," said Fred Keeley, mayor of Santa Cruz, where the pier collapsed.
In Watsonville, along the Monterey Bay, rescuers were called to Sunset State Beach on Monday for a report of a man stuck under debris. The Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office believes he was pinned there by a large wave. The man was pronounced dead at the hospital. Other details are not yet known and his name has not been released.
Strong surf also likely pulled another person into the Pacific Ocean on Monday at Marina State Beach, nearly 21 kilometers south of Watsonville, authorities said. Strong currents and high waves forced search teams to call off their efforts after about two hours as conditions deteriorated. The man remained missing Monday night.
Also, as previously reported, the pier partially collapsed, and three people ended up in the Pacific Ocean.
Tony Elliott, head of the Santa Cruz Parks and Recreation Department, estimated that about 45 meters of the end of the pier fell into the water. It was immediately evacuated and will remain closed indefinitely.
Construction inspectors checked the integrity of the rest of the pier.
Further along the West Coast, dangerous surf conditions and waves up to 9.1 meters high are expected from the central Oregon coast to southwestern Washington.
In a message on X, the National Weather Service office in Portland, Oregon, reported that "it is likely to be one of the strongest surfs of the winter.
