You can, of course, fight an unpredictable tide by building sea walls, flood gates and breakwaters.

FORBES: Leahy's Protect IP Act: Why Internet content wars will never end

Wind-driven swells slapped over the tops of breakwaters and turned waves into a churning froth under piers at points such as Redondo Beach and Manhattan Beach on the Los Angeles County coast.

NPR: Windy Spring Storm Sweeps Through Calif., Arizona