Record king tides wreck Long Beach homes amid strong El Niño
NBC News reported that on 9 October record king tides and storm surges destroyed more than a dozen beachfront homes in Long Beach, California, and damaged the Pacific Coast Highway. Earlier, the NOAA Climate Prediction Center had rated this year’s El Niño as “very strong,” assigning an 83 % chance of historic intensity and forecasting above-normal precipitation and heightened flood risk for California. Meteorologists warned that Tropical Storm Rachel, combined with an El Niño-driven Kelvin wave, could bring coastal flooding, elevated tides and light rain across Southern California. KQED reported that El Niño-driven waves and storm swells could cause up to 1.
5 feet of flooding in low-lying Bay Area areas. The Los Angeles Times noted that an unprecedented Pacific hurricane season generated record cyclone energy, causing extensive coastal damage in Southern California and raising concerns about further El Niño impacts. Scientists at a Scripps Institution conference said the El Niño is shaping up as one of the strongest on record, bringing higher ocean temperatures, increased flood risk and potential coastal erosion.
