High Surf Causes Minor Flooding

Waves reaching 12 feet pounded the Ventura County coastline Wednesday, causing minor flooding in Channel Islands Harbor and frightening residents in oceanfront homes.

The big breakers started before 8 a.m. and continued for several hours, prompting the Ventura County Fire Department to dispatch bulldozers in the afternoon to build sand berms on a stretch of Silver Strand Beach.

A panicked homeowner in the 1600 block of Ocean Drive in Silver Strand called firefighters about 8:30 a.m. and complained of waves hitting her house.

No evidence of that was found, but ocean water was creeping close, witnesses said.

Minor street flooding was reported between Seacliff and Malibu in Los Angeles County, mainly in areas on west-facing beaches. There were no road closures.

The higher than normal surf will continue through today, said meteorologist Joe Sirard of the National Weather Service’s office in Oxnard.

There was a heavy surf advisory in effect Wednesday, warning of waves topping 7 feet on the county’s coastline. Waves between 4 and 8 feet were forecast for today and Friday.

Today will be partly cloudy and dry with high temperatures on the coast and inland in the mid-60s and lows in the mid-40s, Sirard said.

There is a 50% chance of rain Friday, with high and low temperatures expected to drop about 10 degrees, Sirard said.

“Another [storm] from the Gulf of Alaska is coming down the West Coast and moving into Southern California,” he said.

“At this point, it doesn’t look like a big deal.”

More than half an inch of rain fell in parts of the county Monday.