A coastal flood warning covered beaches from Malibu to San Diego on Saturday as Tropical Storm Rachel moved toward Southern California, while Long Beach kept some oceanfront residents under an evacuation order, and Newport Beach closed piers and temporarily shuttered beaches before a reopening.
“For vulnerable south-facing beaches, especially Long Beach and Malibu, damaging sea-water flooding is likely,” the National Weather Service said Saturday, saying that Sunday morning carried the highest flooding risks along the Orange and San Diego coasts as swells, onshore winds and high tides combined.
The center of Rachel was expected to move onshore in northern Baja California on Saturday night.
Those warnings remained in effect even as Rachel’s forecast track shifted farther south, leaving most of San Diego County outside its projected path, said Adam Roser, lead meteorologist at the National Weather Service in San Diego. “Even though the track has shifted a little further to the south, we’re still expecting wind impacts,” Roser said during a briefing.
Long Beach’s mandatory order covers homes on Seaside Walk between 64th and 66th places. It took effect at 7 p.m. Friday and runs through noon Tuesday, city officials said. A commercial crane is scheduled to drop sandbags on 65th Place and westward in front of addresses between 65th and 64th, city officials said.
“The return date is subject to change based on evolving conditions,” a city announcement said.
Mike Carter, center, and his daughter Ellie Carter, 11, of Costa Mesa, wade through ocean water that washed over the beach as a combination of high tide, high surf generated by distant Hurricane Rachel and a Kelvin wave moving toward Southern California contributes to coastal flooding on Saturday in Newport Beach.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Waves topped the bulkhead and sent water into homes and streets, according to city officials. Inspectors red-tagged eight buildings across 13 addresses, including apartments and yellow-tagged at least one, Mayor Rex Richardson said Saturday. A red tag marks a building as unsafe to enter, and a yellow tag restricts its use.
The city closed the Peninsula to nonresident traffic, with more street closures starting at 62nd Place.
Richardson urged residents to “take this seriously and be prepared,” saying “our infrastructure was not built for this.” A Long Beach Parks, Recreation, and Marine Department manager Todd Leland said the city’s bulkhead and pedestrian boardwalk had already sustained significant structural damage.
Workers are bracing damaged sections with timber and thousands of sandbags to stabilize the compromised areas and prevent collapse.
“Prepare right now for the impacts,” Richardson said. “Our infrastructure was not built for this.”
In Newport Beach, police posted an alert online Saturday morning saying flooding closed all city beaches and piers until further notice.
“Stay away from these areas,” police said. The announcement followed Newport Beach declaring a local emergency Friday after overnight flooding on the Balboa Peninsula.
By early afternoon, police said the beaches were open, but Newport Pier, Balboa Pier and the Wedge, from the rock jetty to M Street, remained closed.
In a video uploaded to the city’s Instagram account, an official asked people to stay off the berms. The man said the flooding would continue over the next couple of days. “We want the public to be safe during this time. We will get through this,” his post said.
The weather service expects more coastal flooding Sunday, when high tide at Newport Beach is forecast to reach 7.6 feet at 9:48 a.m. “Low-lying property including homes, businesses, and some critical infrastructure may flood,” the agency’s San Diego office said. Surf could reach 6 to 9 feet, highest at south-facing beaches, especially in Orange County, Roser said.
Joe Angelo has lived in the Newport Beach area for 60 years and bought his beachfront home 27 years ago. He said the flooding left him in “shock and disbelief.”
Robert Wells digs sand away from his car tires at 69th Place on the Long Beach Peninsula on Saturday.
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
“I haven’t seen one drop of water on that sand in 27 years. All the sand, not one drop of water,” Angelo said. “We all love living on this oceanfront. But, boy, it makes you think twice.”
Sandbags lined dozens of homes and businesses near Balboa Boulevard on Saturday morning. Beachgoers strolled with coffee in hand, went for morning runs and walked their dogs. Despite the warnings, many climbed sand berms to watch the waves. Some did backflips off the sand.
Chris Perkins of Orange County brought his son Connor to see the surf. “I grew up around the ocean, and [I’m] just trying to expose my kid to the gnarly waves, and show him how to be safe and how to do it the right way,” Perkins said.
In Long Beach, cars lined up Saturday at a Peninsula parking lot as fire department workers loaded sandbags into trunks. Light rain began falling shortly before noon.
Monica Shephard, who lives in a beachfront apartment complex, said she was worried, noting that ocean water reached her doorstep three years ago. She planned to pick up sandbags for her complex Saturday night and praised the city’s precautions. “They’re doing a great job,” she said.
Huntington Beach also activated its emergency operations center Friday, the city said. Many spectators watched pounding waves there at high tide Saturday morning. Cyclists, walkers and runners packed the white concrete trail along Bolsa Chica State Beach. A section that flooded Friday appeared to escape more trouble Saturday, despite signs that said “flooded.”
People gather along the boardwalk as heavy machinery builds sand berms on the Long Beach Peninsula on Saturday.
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
The heaviest rain is expected late Saturday night into Sunday morning, Roser said. Most coastal areas could get about an inch or a little less. Some mountain areas could get more than four inches.
Many areas west of the mountains will stay in the 60s on Monday, and Big Bear may only reach the 40s, Roser said. Temperatures should warm by the end of the week, he said.
Inland, southern San Bernardino County faces at least a 40% chance of excessive rain that could result in flash flooding through Saturday night, said Julie Phillipson, lead meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Las Vegas. “Our primary concern is still the heavy rains and the flooding that can occur.”
Deputy Managing Editor Shelby Grad contributed to this report.