Hurricane Rachel may be hundreds of miles offshore, but Southern California is already taking a beating from the incoming storm. Dramatic footage from Long Beach shows waves slamming into seawalls and exploding several stories into the air, while farther south in Laguna Beach, ocean water pushed into downtown streets as high tides, hurricane swell, and already elevated sea levels combined along the Orange County coast. Check it out below. Rachel has since weakened into a tropical storm. As of Thursday evening, the National Hurricane Center placed the system roughly 995 miles west of southern Baja California with maximum sustained winds of 60 mph. Forecasters expect it to make a sharp northeast turn toward Baja and Southern California. The NHC warns that Rachel-generated swells will continue building through the weekend and are likely to cause “life-threatening surf and rip current conditions.” Long Beach has been among the most visually dramatic locations.…