Rachel's aftermath batters SoCal coast: 8 Long Beach buildings red-tagged, oceanfront homes under evacuation, Newport Beach closes all beaches and piers
LONG BEACH — Tropical Storm Rachel never made landfall, but its powerful swells and unusually high tides battered the Southern California coast on Saturday, Oct. 10. Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson announced that eight structures across 13 addresses on the Peninsula have been red-tagged as unsafe to occupy, with one more yellow-tagged; oceanfront homes on the 6400 and 6500 blocks of Seaside Walk remain under a mandatory evacuation order, and vehicle access to the Peninsula is restricted to residents.
The damage began Friday morning, when massive waves shredded sections of the Long Beach Peninsula boardwalk, overtopped seawalls and flooded streets and patios, leaving one beachfront home on the verge of collapsing into the Pacific. The city has distributed 7,600 sandbags for Rachel, bringing the total handed out across three recent storms to roughly 15,000. "It is not normal that we see this type of activity," Richardson said. "Just in this season, this marks the third hurricane in just six weeks. We saw Hurricane Marie over Labor Day, which was followed soon by Hurricane Polo, and now Rachel is bringing with it more high tides, more surf, erosion that continues to cause damage to properties and damage along our coastline."
The National Weather Service warned Saturday that a coastal flood warning covers beaches from Malibu to San Diego — through 3 p.m. Sunday for Los Angeles County beaches — with damaging sea-water flooding likely around Sunday morning's high tide, when tide levels could reach about 8 feet. A high surf advisory runs 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday with 4- to 7-foot waves, dangerous rip currents and significant beach erosion. In Orange County, Newport Beach declared a local emergency and closed all city beaches and piers while crews rebuilt sand berms and ran pumps.
Forecasters expect Rachel's center to move onshore in northern Baja California on Saturday night, with rain spreading across Los Angeles and Orange counties Saturday night into Sunday and showers possibly lingering into Tuesday; gusts of 50 to 60 mph are possible in foothills and mountains. Officials urged residents to avoid beaches, coastal walkways and flood-prone roads, and never drive around barricades or through floodwaters of unknown depth.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 风暴巨浪拍上海堤，W.carter 摄，CC0（Wikimedia Commons）
