Massive waves batter California coast, closing piers and flooding Northern California shorelines

Massive waves battered the California coast from Thursday through Saturday, closing beaches and piers and flooding shorelines from San Diego to Malibu and north to San Francisco, Pacifica and Santa Cruz. The worst impacts hit Northern California on Saturday, when the National Weather Service had a high surf warning in place.

NWS Bay Area meteorologist Rachel Kennedy said waves topped 25 feet along much of the coast, and waves above 50 feet were recorded in specific San Mateo County communities south of San Francisco. Manhattan Beach closed its pier Saturday morning, a rare move. In Pacifica, nearly a foot of floodwater covered part of Highway 1, and sneaker waves swept into the parking lot of the Taco Bell Cantina on Pacifica State Beach. The restaurant escaped major structural damage thanks to a relatively low tide, and no injuries were reported. An oceanfront home on the Long Beach Peninsula that had not sold at $4.95 million was damaged, and its price dropped.

The right-leaning New York Post leads with the Pacifica Taco Bell, building the story around fans' social media posts, including one demanding protection from “60 foot monster waves,” and a San Francisco Chronicle reporter's “proof fo life” video of diners. It calls the waves reportedly the biggest in the Bay Area in over a decade and notes the low tide and lack of injuries. The left-leaning Los Angeles Times and CBS News lead with scale and hazard: closures, endangered homes and infrastructure, the NWS warning and Kennedy's measurements, with CBS stressing flooding in several coastal cities. The sides agree on Saturday's peak and the Northern California focus; the figures differ, with 60 feet coming from a fan and 50 feet from recorded readings. Alternative outlets had not reported the story at the time of writing.