Massive waves lashing the Southern California coastline have prompted beach and pier closures on Friday.
While much of the focus was on Thursday’s swells, including a dangerous rogue wave in Ventura, Orange County remains one of the epicenters for high surf and officials are urging residents and beachgoers to exercise extra caution.
Lifeguards and first responders were out in force at Seal Beach early Friday morning. While the large waves might offer a spectacular view, officials were warning that those conditions could quickly turn for the worse.
Robert Canfield is a local videographer and surfer who came to get a look at the massive swells himself. He urged his fellow beachgoers to be extra careful while visiting.
“Stay on the berm, stay away from the water when it’s this size. There’s a lot of rip currents that you don’t see,” Canfield said. “I saw yesterday there was a lot of families that, obviously didn’t really know, they had their kids really close to the water. And it only takes a split second for you to get sucked out and it’s a bad time.”
He added that Orange County was fortunate to have great lifeguards who are “always here to protect us.”
Seal Beach Pier was closed for precautionary measures Friday morning. Officials said it would be reopened once everything was deemed to be safe.
The piers in Hermosa Beach and Manhattan Beach in Los Angeles County were also shut down due to inclement weather.
In Ventura County, where cleanup continues following Thursday’s swells, work crews built a six-foot-tall sand berm stretching a mile long to protect the beach and beach communities.
The United States Coast Guard has also ordered a closure of the entrance to the Channel Islands Harbor. That closure will be evaluated regularly, officials said, and anyone with questions was being directed to the Ventura County Harbor Patrol.
Increased lifeguard staffing has been put in place up and down the Southern California coast from Ventura County to San Diego County.
While waves were still expected to be large on Friday, the region is getting a bit of a respite from the swell before the next round of waves arrive on Saturday. Those swells are expected to be even larger than those that made landfall Thursday.
The National Weather Service has issued a high surf and coastal flood advisory that will remain in effect through Monday.