Earlier this week, the ocean poured across the bike trail and parking lots along Bolsa Chica State Beach in Orange County, then continued across the access road and the Pacific Coast Highway to join the Bolsa Chica wetlands.

That's almost three football fields away, said Orange County state park superintendent Kevin Pearsall. "It was a huge tide."

The massive flow of water shut down the PCH in Huntington Beach and set off a swirl of videos and images capturing the scene on social media.