Video taking off 31x its usual first day

Santa Cruz wharf closes as high surf brings evacuation warnings

KPIX's Veronica Macias finds Capitola businesses sandbagging and residents preparing, with memories of the wharf's partial collapse still shaping precautions.

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KPIX | CBS NEWS BAY AREA Story of November 15, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 69,438 views a day, 31 times a normal first day on this channel (2,264).

High surf prompts some evacuation warnings in Santa Cruz

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0:19A map shows low-lying coastal zones under evacuation warnings through Sunday morning.
0:47Businesses in Capitola Village and beach-adjacent homes are being protected with sandbags.
1:28Anaiis Moise says high tides have exceeded forecasts.
1:49Archive footage shows the wharf's December 2024 partial collapse before the report explains Saturday's precautionary closure.
3:19Macias notes posted signs asking people to stay off the beaches.

Ellen is getting her vehicle ready just in case. The Santa Cruz resident plans to keep watching the ocean from her window, balancing preparation with a determination not to panic.

Her account is part of Veronica Macias's KPIX report on high surf threatening low-lying coastal areas around Santa Cruz and Capitola. Sheriff's evacuation warnings shown in the report run through Sunday morning, while businesses in Capitola Village and beach-adjacent homes are being protected with sandbags.

The concern is not just the size of the incoming swell. "The high tides have been even higher than forecast," says Anaiis Moise, a member of Santa Cruz's lifeguard staff.

At the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf, the precautions include a Saturday closure. Macias revisits the structure's partial collapse in December 2024 through clearly dated archive footage, then hears from a restaurant operator about the city's more cautious approach. That earlier damage is history, not footage of the storm being reported now.

The report drew roughly 70,000 views in its first day, compared with the channel's usual few thousand. A separate KPIX report on flooded Bay Area roads, crashes and a collapsed ceiling also attracted an unusually large audience.

Macias closes her coastal report with posted signs asking people to stay off the beaches, bringing the focus back to the immediate precautions along the shore.

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