CHICAGO, September 23, 2026 – Dana Point residents watched the surf swallow another chunk of beachfront property last week, and frankly, nobody was surprised. The ocean has been acting strangely for months, but what’s coming this winter isn’t just another bad storm season. It’s a monster.
Researchers are naming it “the Super El Niño,” a Godzilla-scale warming of the Pacific Ocean that has already set world temperature records months before the season is even due. The figures are staggering. Federal weather forecasters give this year a 75% probability of seeing an unprecedented level of strength in this phenomenon. And with the Pacific boiling over atop a human-heated globe, the rain and the rough seas should be intense indeed.
That’s why California isn’t waiting around for the water to reach the living rooms.
The Governor of California, Gavin Newsom, issued an emergency declaration on September 21 that was a preemptive measure to deal with bureaucracy in advance of the first significant atmospheric river event. The executive order facilitates funding, permits state agencies to place sandbags and high-powered pumps in areas at risk, and deploys National Guard troops to quickly conduct search-and-rescue operations.
Preparing for a climate disaster sounds like corporate jargon until it’s you stacking sandbags in your driveway at three in the morning.
“We’re preparing early because every Californian deserves to be safe,” Newsom noted during the announcement, stressing that waiting for active floodwaters to trigger emergency funding is a luxury the state simply can’t afford anymore. This strategy represents a change from reacting to disasters to being proactive about positioning for defense. State employees have been busy clearing the drainage systems, stabilizing weak cliff formations, and protecting transit routes.
Will it be enough? Hard to say.
This is the problem with a super-charged ocean phenomenon – absolute unpredictability. While global climate predictions call for heavy rains, mudslides, and power blackouts on the West Coast of America, the bigger picture around the globe is even more worrying. According to a new study released this week by researchers at the Climate Impact Lab, an estimated 450,000 people are expected to die from heat-related deaths over the next six months due to rising temperatures and climate change – mostly in tropical areas but not the United States.
The reason why this is relevant to California is that its infrastructure was designed for a system where things work in extremes. Following years of drought periods punctuated by biblical rains, the earth is simply unable to soak water fast enough. Thus, mudslides are imminent.
From one end of the coast to the other, emergency responders are going through practice after practice. Volunteer organizations are visiting elderly residents who live by themselves, and the highway department is stockpiling large equipment around landslide-prone areas such as Highway 1. The mood is nervous—it’s like there’s a sense that everyone is securing their homes against a storm system that may break some records in the process.
As Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot stated, the state is working hard to protect its infrastructure from damage before everything falls apart. As anyone living along the coast can attest, Mother Nature is the ultimate judge and jury.
