Two college students died after being swept out to sea from a Santa Cruz beach as massive waves and dangerous rip currents inundated the California coastline in recent days.

Authorities confirmed this week that Harshita Nair, 21, and Mahial Sran, 20, were killed after the sudden swell at a Santa Cruz beach last Wednesday. Nair died last week while Sran died in a local hospital on Sunday.

The incident came a day after a five-year-old girl in southern California was killed when turbulent waters swept the child, who was walking with her mother and brother, out to sea from the shore of Treasure Island Beach in Orange county.

Authorities have urged people to take precautions while visiting beaches throughout the state as the coast faced treacherous conditions with the continuing king tides, a non-scientific term describing the highest tides of the year.

On 10 June, local authorities in Santa Cruz responded to a beach for an ocean rescue of two women who had been pulled into the water. A team of about eight rescue swimmers helped pull Nair and Sran from the water, and they were taken to local hospitals by ambulance and helicopters.

It was the fifth rescue firefighters had undertaken on that mile-long portion of coastline from Yellow Bank Beach to Bonny Doon Beach, the San Mateo-Santa Cruz unit of Cal Fire said in a statement online.

Kyle Breton, a Santa Cruz county volunteer fire captain, said in a video that officials believed the two friends were napping near a rock archway between two beaches when the water came in and swept them out.

Sran was a student at San Jose State University and Nair attended the University of California, Berkeley, the universities confirmed to media outlets.

In an obituary, Nair’s family remembered her as a “cherished sister, granddaughter and a treasured friend” who “always found a way to lift others up”.

“Harshita was truly full of life – radiating energy, warmth and joy wherever she went. She had a deep love for adventure and embraced every moment with enthusiasm and courage. Her spirit was contagious, her laughter uplifting and her presence comforting.”

ALAMEDA COUNTY, Calif. – Democratic state lawmaker Aisha Wahab advanced Tuesday to the special general election in California for the U.S. House seat vacated by Rep. Eric Swalwell after he resigned from Congress amid allegations of sexual assault.  
 

Headed to runoff 

Wahab, a state senator who focused her campaign message on reducing housing costs, goes on to the Aug. 18 runoff, which will determine who will fill the remainder of Swalwell’s term through January. 

The 14th District includes East Bay cities such as Fremont, Hayward and Livermore. It heavily favors Democrats, and Swalwell typically beat Republican challengers by wide vote margins. 

Also among the 11 names on the ballot was fellow Democrat Melissa Hernandez, a Bay Area Rapid Transit director and former mayor of the East Bay city of Dublin.

Branded as progressive

She and Wahab represent different wings of the party that have been battling in numerous states this primary season. The more progressive Wahab proposed combating high costs by expanding the social safety net and taking on “corporate profiteering.” Hernandez, considered more moderate, emphasized job growth and supporting small businesses.

Others in the race were Democratic businessperson Rakhi Israni Singh and Republicans Wendy Huang, a real estate investor, and Dena Maldonado, who runs a small flower business. 

Separate from the special election, a regular primary was held June 2 for a full term in the seat beginning in January, with many of the same candidates who were on Tuesday’s ballot.

Multiple elections

Wahab and Hernandez were the top two vote-getters June 2 and advanced to the general election in November. If one of them comes out on top in the special election, their hope is that serving in the office for a few months this summer and fall could provide a boost in visibility and some job experience they can tout as they campaign for the full term.

Swalwell held the seat for seven terms before resigning in April – and also  dropping out of this year’s governor’s race – after the San Francisco Chronicle reported allegations that he sexually assaulted a woman twice, including when she worked for him. 

CNN later reported that other women accused him of sending inappropriate messages and nude photos.

Swalwell has repeatedly denied the accusations, but he said it would be unfair to his constituents to remain in Congress. 

One of the eight people who died in the crash of an Air Force B-52 Stratofortress bomber in California on Monday had recently welcomed a new son, his wife said.

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“My husband just went back to work. He was there for just a week,” Lauren Smith said about her husband, Jeromy Smith.

The Department of Defense and Edwards Air Force Base have not released the names of those killed in Monday’s crash, which happened shortly after the plane took off around 11:20 a.m.

Members of the military, military civilians and government contractors were on board, officials have said. Boeing confirmed that two of its employees had been killed.

The cause of the crash remains under investigation. The aircraft was on a routine test mission supporting a “radar modernization program,” Air Force Col. James Hayes told reporters Monday.

An initial gathering of facts can take up to 30 days, and then an accident investigation board will review the crash, Hayes said. It can take six months before the information is gathered and released to next-of-kin and the public, he said.

Jeromy Smith was a civilian flight test engineer for the Department of Defense and worked on projects at Edwards Air Force Base for 10 years, Lauren Smith said.

The Smiths have two children: Fletcher, 2 years old, and Fallon, who was born four months ago.

“We did not see this coming,” she said.

Jeromy Smith had received the Aerial Achievement Medal for flying medium- to high-risk sorties, and he was proud of that, Lauren Smith said.

But for the six years that Lauren Smith has been with her husband, she said she never felt like things were not safe.

Monday’s flight had originally been scheduled for Friday but had been pushed back, she said.

“They go through tons of safety things before they even take off. And I know specifically on Friday they had — they were gonna fly on Friday, and they just kept pushing it back and pushing it back,” she said.

“And I don’t think that plane was ready to take off, and I’m so sad it did,” she said.

The Department of Defense did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

Lauren Smith said that the last text she sent her husband was “I love you.”

She became aware of the crash through social media and learned that Jeromy Smith had died when people from his work showed up at her door at 6 p.m. Monday, she said.

“He worked really hard for this country, and he loved this country so much,” she said. “I know he is just a speck in this world of people, but he truly, truly loved this country, and he would do anything for this country.”

“And he left a legacy with his kids,” she said. “And I hope that they — they know that their father was a hero, and that he loved them very much.”