Nine Hospitalized After Giant Rogue Wave Smashes Into California Coast

by Dan Ladden-Hall

12/29/2023 · 6:16 AM CST

Colin Hoag via KTLA 5 YouTube

Nine people were hospitalized after being hit by a rogue wave in California on Thursday as huge swells lash the state’s coastline.

Video footage recorded by a witness at Pierpont Beach in Ventura at around 11 a.m. shows bystanders attempting to flee as the water rushes onto land. Several people are submerged as they try to run, with buildings also reportedly damaged in the incident.Witnesses said some of the victims sustained broken bones, according to KTLA. The station also cited the Ventura City Fire Department in saying that two of the nine people rushed to the hospital were in critical condition on Thursday night.

“It was horrific,” said Colin Hoag, who captured footage of the wave. “There was a lot of screaming, a lot of yelling. I didn’t know how far [the wave] would go. I thought, ‘This is a tsunami, is what it looks like to me.’”

Warnings for high surf and coastal flooding will remain in effect for Ventura County beaches until Saturday evening, according to the National Weather Service. The advisories say that “dangerously large breaking waves” of up to 20 feet will strike, and that residents are advised to stay out of the water and off of “of jetties, piers, and other water side infrastructure.”

“I think a lot of lessons were learned today when you look at that video,” Andy VanSciver of the Ventura County Fire Department told KTLA. “The importance of heeding the warnings, about giving the ocean some respect.”