“A powerful storm hit the central coast of California: there is a victim A storm with hurricane-force winds and waves up to 18 meters hit the coast of California. One person died, another went missing, and part of a pier in Santa Cruz collapsed.”, — write on: unn.ua
Details
The storm was expected to bring hurricane-force winds and waves of up to 18 meters as it strengthened from California to the Pacific Northwest. 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 our way to be more serious than what happened this morning,” said Fred Kiley, the mayor of Santa Cruz, where the pier collapsed.
In Watsonville, along Monterey Bay, emergency responders were called to Sunset State Beach State Park on Monday after reports of a person trapped under debris. The Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office believes he was crushed 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 swept another person into the Pacific Ocean Monday at Marina State Beach, nearly 13 miles south of Watsonville, authorities said. Strong currents and high waves forced search teams to call off their efforts after about two hours as conditions worsened. The man remained missing Monday evening.
Also, as previously reported, a pier partially collapsed, and three people ended up in the Pacific Ocean.
Part of a pier collapsed in California – three people fell into the waterDecember 24 2024, 06:29 • 12101 views
Tony Elliott, chairman 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.
Building inspectors were checking the integrity of the rest of the pier.
Further along the West Coast, hazardous conditions are expected for surf and waves up to 30 feet (9.1 m) from the central Oregon coast to southwest Washington.
In a statement on X, the National Weather Service office in Portland, Oregon, said it was “likely to be one of the strongest surf events of the winter.”