Bulldozers on Friday built giant sand berms to protect beachfront homes in one of California’s coastal cities hit hard this week by extraordinary waves generated by powerful swells from Pacific storms.
Dozens of people watched construction of the emergency barriers in the Pierpont area of the city of Ventura, where a rogue wave on Thursday smacked spectators and vehicles as it overran the beach and flowed into a neighborhood.
“We have had water down the lane once before, but never like this,” said Karris Kutivan, a nine-year resident of the scenic shoreline city about 97km northwest of Los Angeles.
Photo: AFP
“What it has taught me is I want to live by the beach, not on the beach,” Kutivan said.
Eight people were taken to hospitals for treatment of injuries after the Pierpont incident, said Ventura County authorities, who closed beaches, piers and harbors through today.
Similar waves also overran beaches elsewhere on Thursday on the California coast, flooding parking lots, streets and triggering evacuation warnings for low-lying areas.
The ocean was less violent on Friday, but the US National Weather Service warned that another round of extremely dangerous surf conditions was to return yesterday.
The servicer’s Los Angeles-area office wrote that powerful cyclones over northern Pacific waters were sending 3.6m to 5m swells, creating “tremendous wave energy across coastal waters.”
At some points along California, breaking waves were predicted to reach 7.6m.
Even as residents girded for the next onslaught, a few avid surfers donned wetsuits to take advantage of the still high, but less ferocious waves that prevailed on Friday.
Kenny Powell, 64, another Ventura resident and surfing enthusiast, said that while many surfers live for the thrill of riding exceptionally big waves, Thursday’s conditions proved too challenging for him to venture into the swells.
“And we actually picked a few people out of the water,” he said. “Mother Nature had a little more than we had planned for.”
Additional reporting by Reuters
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including