SURF UP, OVER; RAGING WAVES POUND COASTAL HOMES, ROADS.

Byline: Lisa Van Proyen Daily News Staff Writer

A day before heavy rains were predicted to drench Southern California, surf as high as 18 feet damaged more than a dozen homes Friday along Ventura County and Malibu beaches, officials said.

The big waves are expected to continue today - along with heavier rainfall, the National Weather Service said.

Up to an inch of rain is expected to hit beginning this morning, with a slight chance for intermittent showers tonight through Monday, said Rob Krohn, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Oxnard.

In Ventura County on Friday, 12 homes were damaged by waves that crashed onto oceanfront property, said Pam Sears, a dispatcher for the Ventura County Fire Department. One of the homes was deemed uninhabitable.

``In 30 years, I've only seen this kind of damage three times,'' said Sandi Wells, chief information officer for the Ventura County Fire Department.

In Malibu, residents watched helplessly as beachfront decks and recreational water gear stored on their porches washed out to sea.

One Malibu resident, Ellie Bernstein, lost a 40-pound roller that carries her catamaran to the waters.

``We have a huge sea wall, but the water was up over it. Next door, there's a garden with vegetables that is filled with salt water. I had water come right through a closed window,'' she said.

The waves were the most forceful Bernstein said she's seen in seven years at her ocean-view home. ``These are the biggest waves. I'm questioning now whether this is El Nino,'' she said.

Krohn attributed the high surf to the string of recent storms. ``What we're getting right now is what was generated about four days ago in the Central Pacific,'' he said.

The Weather Service cautioned oceanfront property owners of a heavy surf advisory that will remain in effect at least through Sunday.

In Tuna Canyon, waves battered a home for an hour, repeatedly smashing over a storm wall, gushing through the front door and flooding the family's living room and kitchen in the 18900 block of Pacific Coast Highway, said Capt. Jim Brewer of the Los Angeles County Fire Department in Malibu.

The forceful surf between about 11 a.m. and noon also pried plywood from a window and left a small hot tub on the patio floating on 2 feet of water at the same home, Brewer said.

``(The waves) were pretty fierce. We were just hoping that they weren't going to break out the windows,'' Brewer said.

In Ventura County, waves up to 18-feet high pounded decks and homes at Faria and Solimar beaches and Mussel Shoals, with water shattering windows and ruining doors, Sears said. Three condominium units at Whaler's Village in Malibu were also damaged.

Most residents of the worst-hit structures were not home during the surf siege, Wells said.

The highest waves were recorded at 18 feet in the Rincon area, at the north end of Ventura County, Wells said. Most other areas ranged between 10-foot to 15-foot waves.

Debris and erosion forced the temporary closure of a stretch of the Pacific Coast Highway in the Rincon area north of Ventura.

The Ventura pier was also pounded by the large waves, but the newly reinforced landmark withstood the assault, officials said.

The pier, which lost a 420-foot chunk to rough seas two years ago, lost four pilings and two cross bracings during this week's storm. But with more heavy surf expected through at least Sunday, city officials were reluctant to claim victory over the punishing sea.

Wells attributed the huge waves to several environmental factors.

``It's almost on a 10-year interval that we see these things,'' Wells said. ``I think it's just something that we witness occasionally with the ocean when a lot of things are in alignment: high tide, a storm surge and a particular phase of the moon, which causes the high tide.''

Plus, Wells noted, recent storms have been hitting directly on the beach, rather than their usual pattern from the south.

Though fire crews and the American Red Cross responded to some situations, neither evacuations nor serious injuries were reported Friday.

However, minor injuries were reported by lifeguards.

In Zuma, 100 surfers greeted the waters at any given time, said Lt. Steve Page of the Los Angeles County Fire Department of Lifeguards.

Curious surfers were also on hand. ``I heard there were swells so I decided to come down here,'' said Daryle Lindsey, a 28-year-old Ventura surfer who has had his share of close calls in the water. ``It's looking like it's a little out of control here.''

Most walked away from the unforgiving waters.

Only a handful of surfers needed medical assistance, Page said.

-- Daily News Staff Writer Don Holland contributed to this story.

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3 Photos

PHOTO (1--Color) A Rincon resident standing on a second-story deck watches the big waves break, spraying foam on his beachfront home Friday.

(2--Color) The smashed planks of a beach house sun deck lie in the Ventura County home's living room after waves hurled them through the window Friday.

(3) A Faria Beach resident flees a wave crashing through a neighbor's garage on Pacific Coast Highway.

Michael Owen Baker/Daily News