To begin to understand how a “super” El Niño winter could punish the Southern California coast, the historic wooden boardwalk on the Long Beach Peninsula may just offer a glimpse at what’s to come.
Days of intense waves fueled by Hurricane Marie far away in the Pacific left several sections of the boardwalk completely destroyed after massive swells swallowed protective sand berms and slammed through the seawall.
That force also left several oceanfront homes damaged, some flooded, with at least 24 homes put under evacuation orders until Wednesday morning, as officials assessed the extent of structural damage from the storm, according to the Long Beach Fire Department.
“The whole beach is gone,” said Carmen Vaudry, 58, describing how the sand used to sit just below the boardwalk in front of her home, but now appears to have dropped several feet.
But Long Beach wasn’t the only victim of the ocean’s effortless wrath this weekend. High surf pounded the region’s increasingly fragile coastline from Malibu to San Diego, and experts say it could be only a taste of what is ahead as the El Niño forecast continues to strengthen.
“Unfortunately this is just a preview,” UC climate scientist Daniel Swain said Tuesday during a discussion of the storm. “The coastal flooding later this year, … it will get worse this fall and especially this winter.”
In Dana Point, relentless waves damaged several beachfront homes, completely destroying decks and tearing through walls. City officials on Tuesday “red-tagged” seven of those homes in the Capistrano Bay District community, deeming them unsafe for residents, and two others were “yellow-tagged,” signifying some safety concerns, according to Dana Point officials.
Farther south in San Clemente, high tides also overran a section of the long-vulnerable coastal railway, once again shuttering the route after considerable slope damage and erosion.
The elevated surf also caused a massive sinkhole in the driveway of Nicolas Cage’s oceanfront residence in Malibu, leading to the evacuation of 31 homes and a local emergency declaration. Waves also splashed over sections of Pacific Coast Highway near Point Mugu, and in Seal Beach, coastline parking lots flooded.
Much of Southern California’s coast remains under advisories for beach hazards or flooding through at least Wednesday night, according to the National Weather Service, which warns that the “combination of high surf and high astronomical tides during the evenings” remains.
“I’m highly concerned,” said Matt Taylor, 55, a resident of Long Beach’s peninsula, who was out Tuesday morning helping clear the street of debris after flooding. “This is just the beginning of the season.”
The threat of a strong El Niño has cities racing to do what they can to prepare for even stronger storms that could bring further coastal damage and flooding.
Long Beach officials said they continue to work to fortify the sand berms and seawall that remain, and are checking drains to ensure any flooding can quickly recede.
In Ventura County, public works crews have said they are sending teams out to identify vulnerable coastal locations to see if they can be strengthened. Orange County has been rehabbing critical pump stations that can be used if floodwaters threaten neighborhoods. In fire zones like Pacific Palisades and Altadena, officials are preparing for possible mudflows.
Almost all coastal communities are stockpiling sandbags.
Although an El Niño year doesn’t guarantee such storms will develop, the climate pattern tilts the odds in favor of a rainier-than-normal winter across Southern California. Scientists have noted that ocean temperatures are already elevated, which pushes tide lines higher and provides extra energy to storms, possibly meaning even stronger waves. A strong El Niño, as is forecast, could push those elevated ocean temperatures higher.
“We are seeing the effects of El Niño already,” said Jonathan Warrick, a research geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey.
Long Beach Peninsula locals told The Times that the ocean often creeps over the seawall and onto the boardwalk — many homes are built to allow water to drain beneath them — but the magnitude of the waves this weekend, and how close they came to the boardwalk, was something they’d never seen.
Steve Hood, who’s lived in the area since the 1960s, said he remembered bigger waves hitting the beach in front of the peninsula during an El Niño winter in 1997 and 1998 — but the storm this Labor Day weekend did more damage.
“We still had quite a bit of beach out there then, so it didn’t reach the boardwalk,” said Hood, 70. His home isn’t oceanfront, so he’s not too panicked about the upcoming winter, but he will be prepared for likely flooding, he said.
“It’s going to be impactful, no doubt, if it is as severe as they anticipate,” he said of El Niño.
Many neighbors are hopeful that the city will proceed with a plan for dredging that would dramatically expand the beach and provide more of a barrier against the waves. Long Beach officials did not respond to questions about that project or its timing, and a website with information has had no updates since last year.
“The city’s neglected this for decades,” Taylor said, calling it “unprecedented” how close the tide is to the peninsula’s boardwalk. While most residents were able to return to their homes Wednesday morning after evacuations, city officials did “yellow-tag” one home, deeming it safe only for limited access, according to Long Beach Fire spokesperson Capt. Jack Crabtree.
The Long Beach Peninsula is a narrow section of upscale homes with beaches on both sides — one facing Alamitos Bay, the other facing the Pacific Ocean.
That location alone makes it particularly vulnerable for flooding and erosion — but it also sits at a low elevation with a south-facing beach, putting it uniquely at risk for strong southerly swells from tropical storms.
Nearby Seal Beach, located just across Alamitos Bay, also contends with many of those same preconditions. During an El Niño cycle in 1983, waves collapsed the landmark Seal Beach Pier, which has since been rebuilt.
On the peninsula in Long Beach Tuesday, several neighbors checked on one another as they cleaned up debris from the flooding and storm damage.
As one woman retreated to her house, she shouted back to her neighbors: “Peninsula strong!”
Staff writers Rong-Gong Lin II and Karen Garcia contributed to this report.
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