Rachel's Remnants Prove Milder Than Feared in Southern California on Sunday: Laguna Beach Berms Hold, 13 Long Beach Peninsula Homes Red-Tagged, Two Flood Rescues in Riverside County
Laguna Beach — The remnants of Tropical Storm Rachel brought another round of high tides and pounding surf to Southern California on Sunday, but conditions in many coastal communities proved milder than feared, the Orange County Register/Southern California News Group reported. "The (forecasts) were a little off," Laguna Beach City Manager Dave Kiff said. "Friday's swell was larger than indicated, and yesterday's was about the same — and this morning seems less." Public Works crews worked late into Saturday night scooping sand at Main Beach to build 15-foot-high sand berms along the surf line, and the berms held at Sunday's 9:45 a.m. high tide; the feared scenario of Laguna Creek swelling and joining the incoming tide to flood the low-lying downtown did not materialize. Newport Beach City Manager Seimone Jurjis reported no issues from Saturday night into Sunday; the city's piers and The Wedge remained off limits to the public, with precautions to stay in place through Monday and to be reassessed Tuesday, and berms built along nearly the entire coastline. In San Clemente, City Manager Andy Hall said Sunday the town fared well, with flooding only at the underpass beach access points.
The Peninsula neighborhood of Long Beach took the heaviest damage. After several days of severe destruction that included extreme flooding, damaged bulkheads and a mangled boardwalk, 13 homes were red-tagged and several evacuations took place. Long Beach officials said the red-tagged homes sustained more damage during high tides on Saturday night and through Sunday morning, with the new destruction still being assessed on Sunday afternoon; some seawater intruded into streets, but crews were on site with pumps and no major flooding problems arose. Crews continued building sand berms along 62nd Place and shoveled sand out of 63rd Place, while residents on 66th Place posted handmade signs asking onlookers to stay away.
Inland, moisture from Rachel brought heavy rain to the Inland Empire early Sunday. Streets in Forest Falls in San Bernardino County were blanketed with mud. In Riverside County, first responders carried out two flood rescues: a person was rescued at Leon Road and Domenigoni Parkway, and later responders used an inflatable boat to rescue someone stranded on top of a vehicle at San Jacinto Avenue and Murrieta Road in Perris, Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire spokesperson Terra Fernandez said. The person rescued in Perris was hospitalized with minor injuries.
National Weather Service forecasters have downgraded Rachel from tropical storm status and expect skies to gradually clear by Tuesday. Sunday's high tide was expected to be the worst of it for Los Angeles County, with moderate coastal flooding likely to continue during the next few days at high tides and a significant warmup expected later in the week. (GSM, from Orange County Register reports)
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: Long Beach Alamitos 半岛海滨步道资料图（本轮受创最重的Long Beach半岛社区；非受灾现场）。图：Sergei Gussev，Wikimedia Commons，CC BY 2.0（经 Commons API 实查）。File photo of the Alamitos Peninsula seaside walk in Long Beach, the hardest-hit neighborhood (not the damage scene). Photo: Sergei Gussev, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0 (verified via Commons API).
