Rachel Batters Long Beach Homes as Coastal Flooding Worsens

Powerful surf associated with Tropical Storm Rachel damaged waterfront properties and shattered sections of Long Beach's century-old boardwalk on Saturday, October 10, as officials restricted access to vulnerable areas and ordered evacuations. Eight homes on the peninsula were marked unsafe, while additional coastal flooding threatened Southern California as high tides, storm-driven swells and elevated ocean levels combined.

According to ABC7, waves overtopped the seawall beside the remaining boardwalk before Saturday night's high tide. The wooden structure splintered as waves tore boards from their positions, and officials closed the damaged area to the public. Video also showed a crack extending from the foundation to the roof of a home along the waterfront.

City officials issued a mandatory evacuation order for residents on 64th and 65th streets along Seaside Walk. Long Beach restricted vehicle access to peninsula residents and encouraged others to stay away while crews reinforced vulnerable areas. Residents collected sandbags to protect their properties as the National Weather Service maintained a coastal flooding warning through Sunday afternoon.

Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson said the access restrictions were intended to give emergency and public works crews room to operate.

“We've closed off vehicular access to the peninsula for residents only. We're encouraging everyone else to avoid the peninsula all weekend so that our city crews can have access and best perform this critical work,” said Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson.

The damage has affected longtime residents as well as people with homes under construction. Stacey Sniezak, who has lived near the affected area on 65th Street for 45 years, described the destruction and the threat to neighboring properties.

“It's really heartbreaking to see how much has been affected with the surf and the high tides and everything. I mean, people are losing their houses,” said Long Beach neighbor Stacey Sniezak.

Sniezak said the damage had left her uncertain about whether affected homes could be repaired.

“It's just impossible to fix at this point, and I don't know how they're going to do that,” Sniezak said.

Construction projects and homes along the peninsula also faced uncertainty as residents prepared for additional waves.

“We're building a house on 60th Street. It's almost done, and we're hoping it doesn't sail off to Hawaii before we get to live in it,” said Long Beach resident Mike Peters.

Other residents tried to manage their anxiety while waiting for conditions to change.

“I woke up this morning, shoveling sand just to get my mind off things, just move things around and not watch the news -- no offense,” said Long Beach resident John Hurnando.

Scientists told the Los Angeles Times that the flooding reflects the combined effects of Rachel, unusually high tides, warmer ocean conditions and an El Niño-related Kelvin wave. The storm's center was expected to move ashore in northern Baja California on Saturday night, with the greatest flooding risk forecast for Sunday morning along the Orange County and San Diego coasts.

Jonathan Warrick, a research geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, said the simultaneous ocean and weather conditions were unusual and could foreshadow future coastal hazards.

“The combination of high tides, Kelvin wave, hurricane waves — and then a whole summer worth of that? This is unprecedented,” said Jonathan Warrick, a research geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey.

Warrick warned that similar conditions could recur during the coming winter, although he stopped short of predicting that they would definitely do so.

“And this is what we got to look forward to in the future,” Warrick said, referring to the prospect of a prolonged El Niño season and repeated winter storms and king tides.

He said the current flooding could offer clues about the types of coastal impacts California might experience more frequently.

“I won't say 100% sure we're going to see this this winter, but this is a type of thing we may see a lot more of this winter,” Warrick said.

Warrick also linked the event to longer-term sea-level rise and the potential for more frequent flooding and erosion.

“And then looking forward into the coming decades with continued sea level rise, this is exactly the type of event that will be seeing a lot more of in the coming decades,” Warrick said.

In Orange County, researchers attributed the flooding to storm swells interacting with a Kelvin wave that traveled north from Peru at approximately 6 miles per hour. According to the Los Angeles Times, this type of ocean wave can raise background sea levels by an estimated 6 to 12 inches while transporting warmer water.

Dillon Amaya, an expert on Kelvin waves and an assistant professor in North Carolina State University's Department of Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, said the elevated sea level likely made Rachel's storm surge more dangerous. The wave's effects could persist for months, and Amaya was monitoring another Kelvin wave moving north along Mexico's coast.

“The hurricane is definitely the triggering factor in terms of providing the storm surge, but the Kelvin wave almost certainly conditioned the background sea state such that flooding was more dangerous this time,” said Amaya.

The National Weather Service reported that the water level at the Los Angeles Harbor tide gauge reached 7.7 feet on Saturday morning, approximately 1.6 feet above the predicted tide. Forecast high tides near 8 feet on Sunday morning were expected to approach or exceed recent record levels for Los Angeles County.

Researchers also warned that exceptionally high tides later in the year could intensify coastal damage if they coincide with strong winter storms. Reinhard Flick of UC San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography said the combination could increase erosion, flooding and property damage, while Mark Merrifield, director of the Scripps Center for Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation, highlighted the potential for high tides around Christmas to compound El Niño-related sea-level increases.

Historical storms illustrate the risks. In September 1939, a tropical storm known as El Cordonazo struck Long Beach and San Pedro, bringing 5.62 inches of rain to Los Angeles over three days and wind gusts of up to 65 mph. Flooding killed 45 people, while another 48 died at sea.

In September 1997, Tropical Storm Nora contributed to street flooding in parts of Southern California, while powerful waves damaged beachfront properties in Seal Beach. Three homes sustained serious damage, and another 45 suffered minor damage during a strong El Niño season.