California’s High Tides Set Records This Week. They’re Going to Get Higher.

Seawater pushed over shorelines up and down the coast of California and spilled onto roadways on Monday and Tuesday as high tides reached record levels. Experts said it was a taste of what the state’s residents should expect throughout the winter as the Pacific Ocean swells from this year’s strong El Niño. Gauges that measure tides along the California coast broke records on Monday, with Los Angeles Harbor recording its highest tide ever and San Francisco seeing its highest tide for the month of October, according to the National Weather Service.

Then it happened again on Tuesday. In San Francisco, high tides at lunchtime flooded a plaza and parts of the sidewalk along the city’s eastern shore, where its ferries depart throughout the day. Video Credit Credit... Ian C. Bates for The New York Times Tony Massara, 72, hopped on a cable car from his home in the Nob Hill neighborhood to take photos of the flooding. “It is a sight to see,” he said. He snapped one of a giant octopus-like statue in the plaza, its tentacles sitting in pooling water, and wondered aloud whether the octopus was constructed to withstand sea water.

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