SeeCalifornia.com

Reporter Chris MacDonald was out and about and snapped these photos of Pacific Coast Highway in Sunset Beach and Huntington Beach’s Huntington Harbour area on Thursday, December 13. The pictures show flooded PCH, along with people out walking pets, or holding a cup of coffee in ankle deep water. Portions of Pacific Coast Highway were closed, as were locations all along the coast impacted by something called the king tide which occurs about 4 times each year. The National Weather Service says the mega-tide is caused by a unique combination of how the sun, the moon and the earth align. Some believe that such alignments may have contributed to the Dec. 14 earthquakes, as well. Several measuring 6.4 and 6.1 magnitude were felt in San Diego, Orange County, Catalina, and Baja California just after 2:35 a.m. PST. Another quake of over 4.1  magnitude quake was reported near the Salton Sea in the California desert.

Shops, hotels, restaurants and houses in the region shown in these photos are accustomed to flooding–when you purchase property or open a business one of your best investments is a pump to drain water from low lying areas. The highest tides of the year should happen Dec. 13-15, 2012.