Pounding waves open up sinkhole in swanky Malibu

Pounding surf lashing the swanky California enclave of Malibu on Tuesday opened up a giant sinkhole on the driveway of a house reportedly belonging to US actor Nicolas Cage.

Aerial pictures taken by AFP show concrete and other detritus have slid into the hole on the road side of the multi-million-dollar oceanfront property.

Traffic cones are set back from the crater, which appears to be perilously close to swallowing the house's double garage.

Waves that are pounding the sea front can be seen lapping in the hole, and rushing out again under the stanchions that support the home, which entertainment outlet TMZ said belonged to the "Leaving Las Vegas" star.

Richard Thompson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, told AFP coastal waters off Southern California were being roiled by the remnants of Hurricane Marie.

"There were some pretty significant surf and swells across area in the last several days," he said.

"At the height of the surf and swell, we had some very significant wave heights up 10 to 15 feet (3.0-4.5 meters) in some spots, along with significant beach erosion."

The high surf in California comes as another storm system, Hurricane Lowell, lashed Hawaii with damaging winds, heavy rainfall and powerful floods, blacking out power across most of one island.

A near-record-strength El Nino climate episode is warming the waters of the Pacific Ocean and promoting the formation of powerful storms.

While the warming phase is a natural phenomenon, scientists believe the human-caused heating of the climate could make its effects much larger.