Offshore Hurricane Floods Seal Beach, Traps Cars
Offshore Hurricane Floods Seal Beach, Traps Cars
The News
Hurricane Marie is not going to hit California — and it flooded the California coast anyway.
The storm is churning in the eastern Pacific off Baja California, hundreds of miles offshore, and forecasters say it will never make landfall in the state. But its swells surged into parking lots near the Seal Beach Pier on Saturday, trapping vehicles, and prompted water rescues from Los Angeles County to Orange County, the New York Post reported.
The National Weather Service has coastal flood, high surf and small craft advisories plus a beach hazards statement up for parts of Southern California through Tuesday, warning of an "increased risk for ocean drowning."
Timeline
Coastal flood and high surf advisories take effect across Santa Catalina and Santa Barbara islands, Malibu, and Los Angeles and Ventura counties, running through 11 p.m. Tuesday, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Ocean water surges into parking lots near the Seal Beach Pier, flooding low-lying areas and trapping vehicles. Video obtained by ABC7 showed roughly a dozen people pushing one stranded car out of the floodwater. In Manhattan Beach, a lifeguard rescue was caught on video.
Wet sand spreads across the Seal Beach boardwalk and flooding is still visible at homes along the shoreline. Crews build a berm and pump seawater back toward the ocean. Tropical moisture begins moving into the region.
Rain chances run all day across Southern California starting as early as 5 a.m., with a high surf advisory in effect through late Tuesday for Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego county beaches.
The National Hurricane Center expects Marie to weaken steadily into a post-tropical remnant low by Wednesday. The flooded 8th Street and 10th Street parking lots in Seal Beach are expected to stay closed through Wednesday.
Marie reached Category 2 strength with sustained winds of 100 mph as it tracked north and west of the Baja California peninsula, the Los Angeles Times reported, citing the National Hurricane Center. Forecasters expected a 6- to 8-foot south swell, with waves of 5 to 8 feet Sunday and Monday and breaks of 8 to 10 feet possible at Zuma Beach.
Los Angeles County lifeguards are bracing for more than 1,000 water rescues over the holiday weekend. A typical day runs around 500.
The Numbers
Reactions
"There is an increased risk for ocean drowning," the National Weather Service warned, saying rip currents could become "widespread and very strong" and pull swimmers and surfers away from shore. The agency also warned large breaking waves can injure people, sweep them off rocks and beaches, and capsize small boats near shore.
"The best course of action is to stay out of the water," National Weather Service meteorologist Devin Black told the Los Angeles Times. "It's the safest thing to do."
"We're expecting to see these elevated wave heights in the 3- to 5-foot range, with sets up to 6- to 8-feet up in some of our standout beaches up in Zuma Beach and Malibu," Los Angeles County Fire Department ocean lifeguard specialist Jake Miller told ABC7.
Seal Beach resident Clifford Scarborough told ABC7 the surf was nothing like the usual. "This is crazy. I've lived here for 20+ years, and usually we get like 1- to 2-foot waves. But when we get the storm to come in here, it's like, crazy. We're just not used to that," he said. He added: "It just shows you how powerful it is. We have to respect nature."
"It's extremely concerning — having children, you're always on high alert," said Melissa Sann of Mid-Wilshire.
What's Next
The high surf advisory runs through late Tuesday for Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego county beaches, with the coastal flood advisory expiring at 11 p.m. Tuesday. Marie's swells are expected to keep hitting Southern California for several days even as the storm falls apart.
Rain was most likely Sunday, with scattered showers possible Monday and Tuesday. The National Hurricane Center expects Marie to be a post-tropical remnant low by Wednesday, when the closed Seal Beach parking lots are due to reopen.
And this may not be the last one. UC climate scientist Daniel Swain told the Los Angeles Times that El Niño's warm water tends to boost eastern and central Pacific hurricane activity: "There will likely be others — one or two more at some point in September or October."
More
The two things being said about Marie are both true. The storm stays well offshore and will not make landfall in Southern California — and the water it pushed ahead of it still put cars underwater in Orange County. The damage is coming from swell and tide, not wind and rain.
Weather service forecasters said the coast is especially dangerous this week because evening high tides are lining up with a southerly swell. Low-lying and south-facing stretches flagged as most vulnerable include Avalon, Long Beach's Alamitos Peninsula, Point Mugu, Malibu and the coastline from Oxnard to Malibu.
The rain itself is modest. Most areas were forecast to see a quarter inch or less Sunday, with a half inch or more possible in the San Gabriel Mountain foothills and San Bernardino County mountains, and a 15% chance of thunderstorms in Los Angeles County. Forecasters put the odds of rain heavy enough to cause minor urban flooding in the county at around 5%, but warned roads would be slick from months of oil buildup. Swain called it "mainly beneficial rainfall — little flood risk, but also low dry lightning (wildfire) risk."
Poll
Should Southern California beaches be closed outright when a distant hurricane sends dangerous swells ashore?
UMass Dartmouth Running Back, 18, Stabbed to Death
Trump Vows 'AI Force,' Czar; Polls Name Change
Sep 20, 2026
Iran Sends Trump Three Conditions to End War
Sep 19, 2026
Faulty AI Intel Nearly Started War With China
Sep 19, 2026
German General Breuer Elected NATO's Top Officer
Sep 19, 2026
Nobel Laureate: War, Sanctions Crushing Iranians
Sep 19, 2026
Dutch Police Disperse Violent Far-Right Hague Protest
Sep 19, 2026
GOP Midterm Odds Fade With 45 Days Left
Sep 19, 2026
Maher Rejects Tarlov's Claim Democrats Are Less Crazy
Sep 19, 2026
Patrick Clancy Breaks Silence After Ex-Wife Killed Kids
Sep 19, 2026
Trump Cuts Park Staff, Diverts Fees to DC
Sep 19, 2026
Holocaust Heirs Sue LA Museums Over Looted Art
Sep 19, 2026
Trump's Fed Chair Hikes Rates, Defying White House
Sep 19, 2026
Miller Drives Push to Deport Illegal Immigrant Children
Sep 19, 2026
US Lifts Sanctions on Eritrea's Military, Ruling Party
Sep 19, 2026
Air Force Admits US Has Space Weapons
Sep 19, 2026
Turkey Revokes License of Iran's Mellat Bank
Sep 19, 2026
Billionaire Ratcliffe Blasts Britain Over Immigration, Taxes
Sep 19, 2026
Navajo Nation Flash Flood Kills Three
Sep 19, 2026
Explosions Over Riyadh Trigger Saudi Air Alerts
Sep 19, 2026
Sep 19, 2026