The Pacific Northwest didn’t just get swell this weekend. It got an ocean invasion.
On Sunday, November 8, waves reaching an estimated 33 feet hammered Oregon’s coastline, sending explosive walls of whitewater and floods of carnage onto beaches, staggering cliffs, and places that usually stay dry.
Check out the chaos and power of mother nature, linked here, and below.
“Just absolute chaos here today,” the video’s narrator states in awe as a monolithic wave violently explodes against the sheer rock face.
At Pacific City, video shared from Cape Kiwanda captures the spectacle in all its terrifying glory. Swells slam into the cape’s towering sandstone formations, launching whitewater up and over a high rocky ledge before it spills back toward the Pacific. It’s the sort of scene that makes a giant cliff look like a speed bump.
Farther north, Cannon Beach Ocean Safety shared footage of water rushing high up the sand, hauling trees and heavy driftwood along for the ride.
See here and below.
The agency issued an urgent warning: “Powerful ocean surges are traveling unusually high up the beach, reaching areas that visitors may normally consider safe.”
The surges, officials added, were strong enough to move massive logs “as if they were twigs.”
And those weren’t empty warnings.
At South Jetty Beach in Winchester Bay, two beachgoers and a dog scrambled toward a pile of driftwood as a sneaker wave surged across the beach, according to FOX Weather. The people escaped the worst of it, but the dog was swept into the foaming water before being pulled to safety. Thankfully, all three survived.
The National Weather Service issued high-surf warnings Sunday for Oregon and parts of southern Washington, forecasting waves between 28 and 33 feet. Officials warned that waves could wash unexpectedly over jetties and shorelines, cause erosion and sweep spectators into the sea.
The culprit was a powerful westerly swell generated by an active procession of North Pacific storms. And more unsettled weather is expected this week.
For surfers, the numbers might sound enticing. But this wasn’t a clean, corduroy swell arriving at a friendly pointbreak. It was an unmistakable reminder that Oregon’s rugged coastline can turn deadly without warning.
Never turn your back on the ocean. Especially when it’s doing this.
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