Ocean Water Floods Homes on Newport Beach’s Balboa Peninsula as Tropical Storm Rachel Barrels Toward Southern California (VIDEO)

Ocean water flooded homes and businesses in Newport Beach on Friday as Tropical Storm Rachel barrels toward Southern California.

The National Weather Service and National Hurricane Center issued a Tropical Storm Watch for Southern California.

This is California’s second-ever tropical storm watch. The Eastern Pacific is much warmer than usual this year because of a historically strong El Niño weather pattern.

The last time a tropical storm made landfall in Southern California was in 1939, AccuWeather reported.

Rachel was a Category 2 hurricane earlier this week and was just downgraded to a tropical storm as it ch...