Ecuador’s coast registers strong swell coming from the northwest Pacific Ocean

Some 40 beaches of Ecuador, including four of the Galapagos Islands, located 1,000 kilometers from the mainland coast of the South American country, are affected by a swell of considerable energy coming from the northwest of the Pacific Ocean with waves up to 2.6 meters high, informed Tuesday the Secretariat of Risk Management.

The situation has been present since Jan. 15, according to an alert issued by the Oceanographic and Antarctic Institute of the Navy (Inocar), which said that these swells would be more intense in the Galapagos Islands, from Jan. 16 and on the mainland coast from the 17th.

Inocar recommended caution along the entire coastline and mainly on the beaches with a northeast-southwest alignment and the northwest area of the Galapagos Islands.

The Secretariat of Risk Management published the list of 40 beaches with yellow flags, which means a medium level of threat that warns swimmers to be careful if entering the sea.

According to reports broadcast by local television, this Tuesday, a higher-than-normal swell was registered in the El Oro, Santa Elena, Esmeraldas, and Manabi coastal provinces.

This natural phenomenon caused surprise and fear in the inhabitants since, in some places, the water reached the roadway.

Meanwhile, the video surveillance system of the Integrated Security Service ECU 911 reported no people affected by this event, according to the entity.

The ECU 911 has 163 video cameras in the Ecuadorian coastal profile and 178 points of the Early Warning System (SAT) that allow permanent monitoring of the state of the sea.