More flooding on 2nd day of CA 'king tides'

Television news reports showed ankle-deep water on some streets in the Sunset Beach area near Huntington Harbour shortly after a morning high tide of over 7 feet.

No homes were flooded and there were no major traffic tie-ups, even though water spilling from the harbor submerged one lane of the Pacific Coast Highway, a major Orange County coastal route.

Newport Beach also had some roadway flooding on Friday, but no damage to homes, and the tidal flow from the bay was lower, city spokeswoman Tara Finnigan said.

"It peaked at around 8 feet," she said. "Yesterday it peaked here at about 8 feet, 4 inches ... Things are moving in the right direction."

The highest tide of the year struck California on Thursday morning but proved to be more of a nuisance than a threat.

Bruce DuAmarell, an 18-year Sunset Beach resident, said he got a call at work from an alarmed neighbor and came home.

"There were four to five inches in my garage," he said, as he took a break from sweeping water onto the street. "It came up over the seawall and literally filled up the harbor."

DuAmarell said he lost a vacuum cleaner and some Christmas presents for his children, but otherwise was unscathed.

The worst damage Thursday was just north of San Francisco, where the tide swamped a commuter parking lot in Marin City and seeped into dozens of cars.

King tides occur several times a year when the Earth, moon and sun align in a way that increases gravitational pull on oceans, raising water levels several feet above normal high tides. The non-scientific term also refers to extremely low tides.