{"id":459121,"date":"2026-09-10T07:10:35","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T07:10:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/459121\/"},"modified":"2026-09-10T07:10:35","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T07:10:35","slug":"long-beach-homeowners-flee-as-12-foot-waves-smash-seawall-flood-homes-and-destroy-cars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/459121\/","title":{"rendered":"Long Beach homeowners flee as 12-foot waves smash seawall, flood homes and destroy cars"},"content":{"rendered":"

Long Beach homeowners watched in horror as monster waves smashed <\/a>through their seawall, shredded the boardwalk and turned their street into a lake in minutes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe conditions were very normal,\u201d Evelina Mardirossian, 77, told the California Post. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd within five minutes, the entire street became a lake<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

David Black and Evelina Mardirossian describe the damage to their garage on Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026. Jon Putman for CA Post<\/p>\n

In an aerial view, a Pacific Ocean wave crashes into a seawall protecting beachside homes on Monday, September 7, 2026, in Long Beach, California. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Mardirossian and her husband, David Black, 75, lost $60,000 worth of vehicles. Jon Putman for CA Post<\/p>\n

Mardirossian and her husband, David Black, 75, lost $60,000 worth of vehicles when their garage flooded.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of our cars are gone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHer car was only three months old,\u201d Black told The Post. \u201cIt had 1,500 miles on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The flooding was so severe that about 20 homes directly on the seawall between 63rd Place and 67th Place were placed under a mandatory evacuation order.<\/p>\n

Long Beach firefighters went door-to-door Monday evening, telling residents it was time to leave.<\/p>\n

The destruction made the warning painfully clear.<\/p>\n

Heavy surf generated by offshore Hurricane Marie, amid a record-breaking ocean heat and an emerging El Ni\u00f1o, caused minor coastal flooding and forced the evacuation of roughly 20 beachfront homes along the Long Beach Peninsula. Jon Putman for CA Post<\/p>\n

Damage along the Long Beach Peninsula. Jon Putman for CA Post<\/p>\n

Two women secure plywood on a damaged boardwalk as waves crash against it. Jon Putman for CA Post<\/p>\n

Massive waves ripped planks completely out of the boardwalk during Monday night\u2019s high tide, and Tuesday morning\u2019s high tide made the damage even worse.<\/p>\n

In some spots, the waves tore straight through the seawall separating the shore from the homes.<\/p>\n

Water and debris were sent onto homes sitting alongside the boardwalk.<\/p>\n

Residents have been working overtime to protect their properties, piling up sandbags and nailing boards over doors and windows as the surf keeps pounding the neighborhood.<\/p>\n

One homeowner used several pieces of plywood and sandbags to try to block the water. <\/p>\n

It still got through, leaving sand dumped across the porch.<\/p>\n

Del Sunderk gives an interview about the damage to her home on Tuesday, September 8, 2026, on the Long Beach peninsula. Jon Putman for CA Post<\/p>\n

\u201cI wish I had known it was coming,\u201d Del Sunperk, 49, told The Post. \u201cI would at least put the sand bag where my front door is.\u201d<\/p>\n

And the worst damage may be the kind nobody can see.<\/p>\n

One resident said the tide has been pulling sand out from underneath the homes, leaving their structural integrity questionable.<\/p>\n

There are also reports of damaged and cracked concrete between some homes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sand level is eroding. So the waves are not coming up and over as much as they\u2019re hitting our boardwalk, which is collapsing in multiple places,\u201d\u00a0Jen Pieracci-Jensen, 45, told The Post. \u201cSo yeah, it\u2019s super stressful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jen Pieracci-Jensen, 45.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a friend that was locked in her upstairs,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Waves as high as 12 feet closed beaches across Southern California and sent coastal flooding into Long Beach as Marie passed offshore.<\/p>\n

Marie weakened to a tropical storm on Sunday hundreds of miles out to sea, but its remnants continued to hammer coastal Southern California Tuesday, with high surf and flooding still affecting communities.<\/p>\n

Widespread coastal flooding was reported up and down the coast as the massive swells battered the shoreline.<\/p>\n

Mardirossian said residents need more than a basic warning when dangerous conditions are coming.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think in the future when they know something like that is happening, instead of just an email saying, by the way, there will be king tides, they need to make a list of these things to do,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, public works crews were back on the beach with tractors, working to reinforce the sand berm before high tide.<\/p>\n

Evacuated residents are staying in local emergency shelters or nearby hotels, while others have packed up essentials to stay with family until city inspectors clear their homes on Wednesday morning.<\/p>\n

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