(StraightNews.org) – An unexploded bomb washed up on the California shore on New Year’s Eve, prompting action by the local Sheriff’s bomb disposal team. Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office said the bomb, believed to be from the Second World War, came ashore on Pajaro Dunes, a beach located between Santa Cruz and Monterey. The device, covered in sea debris, was deemed safe by bomb disposal experts before being removed to the nearby Travis Air Force Base.
A spokesperson from the Travis base said the instrument was a Mk 15, Mod 2 Navy practice bomb used during World War II. “After safely performing an on-site visual inspection and x-ray scan, the item was deemed free of explosives and safe to transport,” the spokesperson said.
The beach was among several evacuated in California in recent weeks thanks to high winds and waves as tall as 25 to 30 feet. Beaches were closed and people were wounded as the mammoth waves crashed over seawalls, sending surges of water through nearby streets and injuring several local people.
Video clips on social media showed individuals running from high waves in the Ventura beach area, and one witness said, “It was terrifying and apocalyptic. People were yelling and screaming. I ran as fast as I could, mostly backward because I was filming.”
The National Weather Service said high waves in the region posed an “exceptional risk” of significant damage to seafront structures and flooding.
Storms and high waves often bring objects to the shore that would otherwise have been lost at sea forever, and there are numerous instances in America in the last few decades. A “Superstorm” in New Jersey in 2018 led to the discovery of munitions and rifles from the First World War that had apparently been dumped into the sea from ships.
Niall Slowey, an oceanography professor at Texas A&M University, said, “They disposed of millions of tons of this stuff,” adding that such finds would continue for centuries to come.
Copyright 2024, StraightNews.org
