Families Scramble to Protect One Another During Rare Microburst at Beach

Visiting the beach is often a joyous time for the whole family, but when rain began to fall at one beach, visitors had no idea that within seconds a horrifying scene was about to unfold.

Leonard Diaz had taken his family to a Santa Barbara, California, beach over the holiday weekend. Diaz and his family were playing in the ocean when storm clouds appeared and it began to rain. According to a video Diaz took at the scene, the rain started to come down incredibly hard.

“I’ve never seen it rain this hard at the beach,” said Diaz. “It’s pouring!”

Of course, being at the beach, not many took notice of the rain. Kids and adults continued to play around in the water.

Diaz then began to pan around toward land and a large hill in the distance. Suddenly, the little rain storm was packing hurricane-force winds, reducing visibility and sending umbrellas, beach chairs, and other debris flying into the air.

Panicked, families had to hunker down as parents shielded their kids from the sudden storm. People all over the beach cried out, unsure what was happening. But what could cause such a scene?

The sudden weather disturbance is known as a microburst, a rare phenomenon that’s a localized down draft, unloading high winds and precipitation that can be highly damaging. A microburst will last just minutes.

The one in Santa Barbara lasted about two minutes, according to Inside Edition, but had still managed to inflict tons of damage.