A California mother who was nearly swept away by a huge wave outside her home returned in the dark just hours after her brush with death to find her lost iPhone because she feared her boss would be angry.
Biotech executive Celeste Glazer evacuated the Capitola oceanfront apartment she had rented with her family on Thursday morning as dangerous surf began surging over the seafront wall below.
A couple of hours later Glazer, 51, returned with her 15-year-old daughter Bridget to collect a suitcase and return a parking permit.
However, an abnormally high tide pushed a 20-foot swell over the wall, causing Glazer to fall and almost be swept away.
Just as she was about to be carried over the wall Bridget, a high school gymnast, managed to grab her mother and drag her to safety – but the mom lost her new iPhone 14 in the process.
Biotech executive Celeste Glazer was almost swept away by a 20-foot wave outside her rented Capitola apartment
Glazer had evacuated the apartment with her family but returned to pick up a suitcase (photo: 2020)
Glazer (right) was rescued from the waves by her fifteen-year-old daughter Bridget (photo: 2022)
Fearing the wrath of her boss at San Jose based Molecular Devices, who had issued her the phone, Glazer convinced her family to go in search for the device that night.
Her iPad had notified her that the cell phone was in the area and still powered up.
‘I was talking to my family and saying, ‘I really want to go find it.’ They said, “No. It’s dark.”
‘Everybody was telling me to just forget about the phone,’ Glazer told The Mercury News.
‘My mother was like, “You’re crazy,”‘ she said.
‘Bridget said she’d go with me, and my husband was like, “I’m not letting you go by yourself, you might fall in.”‘
Glazer used the ‘find’ function on her Apple watch to try to locate the phone.
Using their mobiles as flashlights the family searched in the dark, sending ‘pings’ to the missing device.
Eventually they decided to start digging in the sand where the strongest return ‘ping’ from the missing phone was coming from.
About 10 feet away from where Glazer remembered letting go of her phone, and a foot deep in the sand, a bit of purple plastic came into view.
It was the case holding Glazer’s iPhone, and the device was still working.
‘I just started screaming,’ Glazer said. ‘I was like, “Yes!”’
‘We felt like treasure hunters’ added Bridget.
Despite the brush with death the 51-year-old insisted on returning to the beach in the dark to find her lost iPhone 14 that night
High tide and rains brought large waves pounding the coastline and caused flooding in Capitola Village on Thursday morning
Waves smash against a home along the California coast in Malibu Beach, California on Friday
Powerful surf was seen crashing against beachfront homes in Malibu on Friday
California has been battered by a relentless coastal storm throughout the week.
Extraordinarily large waves, generated by powerful swells from Pacific storms caused pier closures early Friday morning and warnings from first responders.
Powerful surf was also seen crashing against beachfront homes in Malibu, where emergency sand barriers have been constructed in an effort to limit the damage to the expensive properties.
On Thursday nearly 20 people were swept away by a wave that slammed into a beach barrier in Ventura County.
At some points along California, breaking waves were predicted to reach 40 feet.
Astronomical high tides were adding to a significant risk of more coastal flooding, forecasters said.
‘Overall, this is expected to be an exceptional high-surf and coastal flooding event that has not occurred in many years,’ the weather service wrote.
‘Take caution and heed the direction of local authorities and lifeguards. Never ever turn your back to the water as damaging and life-threatening sneaker waves are likely to occur.’