It seems like about 5 years of drought since a storm this big

I could be wrong but we used to get storms like this all the time almost every year before the droughts maybe 5 or more years ago here where I live. I have lived mostly in this area since 1994 now and in the same house since 1999 straight through to now. So, I remember most of the weather permutations along the way. But, this storm reminds me of storms like this with gusts up to 80 to 100 mph in the past that usually brought down trees and homes and apartments off of cliffs along the California coast and often knocked out power along the northern California coast as well.

The other thing to be aware of is that this year is an El Nino Year as well. So, we shouldn't be surprised at one or more storms as big as this one. Trees falling into houses are just a part of storms like this just like seaweed thrown across paved roads near the ocean and seaweed thrown onto the porches of some coastal homes as well from the waves and surges of the ocean during a storm like this. They also said to expect waves from 10 to 15 feet and some as high as 20 to 30 feet which means if the waves are breaking right some big wave surfers will bring out their jet skis and try to surf them with tow ropes to get going fast enough and get picked up before they crash onto the rocks on shore nearby too.

So, usually the 20 to 30 foot waves are what we call "Rogue Waves" which are the most likely to kill tourists on the shore that just get too close and are swept out to sea when they don't expect "Rogue Waves" to be this big. There are many places where we might lose tourists from other areas who don't understand "The Seventh big wave" might be twice the size of all the others.

Not being aware of this is how people are often swept out to sea while standing on tall rocks thinking they are safe.

By the way I grew up here and recently I was with my daughter thinking the same thing and a rogue wave got me too even though I was standing upon a 3 foot tall rock near the ocean. It went up to my knees but I was lucky. I wasn't swept out to sea.

So, even when you know about rogue waves if you are careless you might almost be swept out too like I almost was. A year or so ago a rogue wave got my Yellow Lab but he swam hard enough not to be swept out. I looked for our corgi then but she had already run for the paved road even before this because luckily she got scared even before the rogue wave hit. Then I wasn't looking at the ocean.

Here's the thing. You always have to be looking at the ocean during storms when you are close to the ocean for signs of a rogue wave you are not expecting. This is from someone who grew up along the California coast since 1952.