A powerful hurricane is racing toward Mexico while Southern California prepares for hazardous surf, strong rip currents and coastal flooding. The storm’s far-reaching swells are expected to pound beaches across the region.
Hurricane Polo is expected to come ashore in Baja California Sur on Monday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said, following a rapid intensification that made it one of the strongest storms ever observed in the eastern Pacific.
Polo is not projected to strike Southern California directly. However, its enormous wave energy is forecast to travel north, with the worst coastal conditions likely to develop Monday and Tuesday.
Large swells could begin reaching the coast late Sunday. High tides of roughly 7 feet may heighten the risk of flooding on beaches, coastal paths and other low-lying areas.
The National Weather Service said Los Angeles and Ventura counties could face 4- to 7-foot surf, dangerous rip currents, beach erosion and possible flooding as the swell arrives near high tide.
Forecasters are especially concerned about the Long Beach Peninsula, Belmont Shore, Malibu and Avalon, though dangerous surf could affect much of the Southern California coastline.
The region is still recovering from Hurricane Marie, which battered the coast earlier this month with powerful swells, king tides and dangerous surf that caused extensive erosion and damage to coastal infrastructure.
Long Beach, Malibu and other shoreline communities reported flooding, damaged seawalls and severe beach erosion, leaving vulnerable areas exposed as cleanup and recovery efforts continue.
Crews in Long Beach and Seal Beach have been reinforcing sand berms and taking additional steps to prepare for possible flooding.
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In Seal Beach, lifeguard towers were removed from sections of the shoreline after erosion reduced the amount of stable beach available for the equipment.
Long Beach officials are also reinforcing the sand berm that protects homes along the peninsula while stockpiling sandbags and positioning pumps ahead of the incoming swell.
“The main concern with this particular system is the significant wave energy, very dangerous surf, significant and potentially dangerous to deadly rip currents will also be occurring,” NOAA’s Dr. Ariel Cohen told KTLA.
The threat is serious enough that wildlife officials moved two recently discovered olive ridley sea turtle nests from Seal Beach and Huntington Beach to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. Officials cited the combination of unusually high tides and dangerous surf.
Meanwhile, newly released footage from inside Polo offers a dramatic look at the hurricane’s immense strength.
Video from NOAA’s Hurricane Hunters captures a WP-3D aircraft flying directly through Polo’s violent eyewall.
The plane can be seen shaking and lurching as the crew presses toward the eye. Moments later, the intense turbulence gives way to an unexpectedly calm center.
A second angle shows blue sky encircled by towering white clouds as the aircraft breaks through into the hurricane’s eye.
Polo previously reached an astonishing 180 mph, while its central pressure fell to approximately 892 millibars—placing the storm among the most powerful eastern Pacific hurricanes ever recorded.
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