The city of Laguna Beach on Thursday proclaimed a local emergency due to ongoing coastal erosion and sand movement related to former Hurricane Marie.
The decision comes after days of swell and shortly after the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced that there’s a greater than 90% chance of a very strong El Niño this year.
“The proclamation allows the City to move immediately on emergency shoreline protection, sand placement, debris removal, assessments and repairs without the delay of ordinary contracting procedures,” the city said in a news release.
Aliso Beach appeared to be taking the hardest hit. Part of the parking lot was already closed last week, but the beach was completely gone and shut down to the public as of Thursday. Crews were evaluating nearby infrastructure and inspecting the homes along that stretch of the coast.
Erosion has also exposed rocks at other beaches, like Shaw Cove, leaving very little sand behind. The city says its coves are the most impacted. While they are all back open, some had to shut down for several days.
Six oceanfront homes on Ocean Way and Lagunita Drive have been yellow-tagged after seawalls were damaged, according to the city.
And Laguna Beach isn’t alone.
In nearby Dana Point, the city declared a local emergency Wednesday afternoon after a home off Beach Road was nearly swept away by heavy surf. Eight more homes remained red-tagged and seven yellow-tagged because of damage from the waves and high tides that slammed the coast over the last several days.
Farther north in Malibu, 31 properties were red-tagged after a sinkhole opened up in the driveway of actor Nicolas Cage’s property on Tuesday.
The damage highlights how quickly powerful waves can reshape Southern California beaches.
“The summertime storms have been fairly excessive this year, which has impacted those beaches that are directed toward the south,” said John Warrick, a geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey. “This coming winter, we’re expecting the storms in the North Pacific to cause all the challenges.
“And so generally in El Niño, those storms off the North Pacific are larger than normal, and so, by all means, we most likely will be seeing different beaches impacted this winter than we’re seeing this summer.”
Warrick says beaches like Aliso, the Wedge in Newport Beach and Zuma Beach in Malibu will likely get a break this winter and that at least some of the sand gone will likely return.