Long Beach Red-Tags 8 Structures as Tropical Storm Rachel Pounds the Alamitos Peninsula

LONG BEACH

The ocean came over the wall on Saturday. Waves generated by Tropical Storm Rachel hammered the Alamitos Peninsula all day, battering homes, shredding the sand berms the city built after the last round of flooding, and damaging the boardwalk near East Ocean Boulevard and 68th Place. By the afternoon, Long Beach officials were saying something they'd been building toward all week: this one is different, and Sunday could be worse.

Mayor Rex Richardson announced Saturday that eight structures across 13 addresses on the Peninsula are now red-tagged — meaning unsafe to be occupied — with another structure yellow-tagged, which lets owners in briefly to retrieve belongings but prohibits occupancy until the building is deemed structurally safe, per MyNewsLA's reporting. Homes in the 6400 and 6500 blocks of Seaside Walk are under a mandatory evacuation order. And vehicle access to the Peninsula has been restricted to residents only, so city crews can work without an audience.

"These kinds of impacts are not normal. They're unprecedented for our community," Richardson said, in remarks reported Saturday by the New York Post.

The damage so far

The damage has concentrated along the Alamitos Peninsula, the narrow strip of beachfront homes along the Orange County line, near the Alamitos Channel that separates Long Beach from Seal Beach. Footage shot Saturday morning showed waves continuing to hit the damaged boardwalk near East Ocean Boulevard and 68th Place, with debris floating offshore as waves washed around and beneath waterfront homes.

Broadcast images from the Peninsula showed waves crashing over the seawall and the boardwalk behind it, flowing through to East Ocean Boulevard, per MyNewsLA. Some of the sand berms built after the previous round of high surf were washed away in spots. Construction-grade cranes were lifting 3,000-pound sandbags into place to support the failing sea wall, and the city has deployed heavy-duty sandbags around a bulkhead officials fear could give way entirely.

Richardson said officials will keep assessing whether the evacuation zone needs to expand beyond the 6400 and 6500 blocks of Seaside Walk, where homes have already taken a beating. For now, the order covers those blocks, and everyone else is being told to stay away from the Peninsula between Bay Shore Avenue and 72nd Place — and to stay off the sand berms built to protect the homes.

Sand, sandbags, and a seven-point plan

Long Beach distributed 7,600 sandbags to residents Saturday as they braced for Rachel — bringing the total handed out during three recent storms to roughly 15,000, according to the Post's reporting. Sand and sandbag distribution sites have been activated at fire stations throughout the city, and officials are urging residents and businesses to keep their sandbags in place through what could be an El Niño-charged fall and winter.

The bigger operation is the sand itself. City Manager Tom Modica told reporters Saturday that crews have started moving 45,000 cubic yards of sand to add 200 feet of width to the weather-ravaged beach, per MyNewsLA. That will be followed, the week of Oct. 19, by a project to add another 50,000 to 100,000 cubic yards of sand, and then a new low-profile rock abutment — much of it paid for with Tidelands funds.

The city has also developed a seven-point plan to strengthen protection of the Alamitos Peninsula, including repairing damaged infrastructure, replenishing beach sand, creating additional protective barriers, and pursuing longer-term coastal protection projects and funding, officials said.

Sunday could be worse

The National Weather Service issued a coastal flood warning Friday afternoon for Los Angeles County beaches, running through 3 p.m. Sunday, warning that damaging ocean flooding is likely along vulnerable south-facing beaches — particularly Long Beach and Malibu. A high surf advisory runs from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday, with 4- to 7-foot waves expected along with dangerous rip currents and significant beach erosion.

Morning high tides of 7.3 to 7.6 feet are expected each morning, and the weather service warned Saturday that Sunday morning's tide could reach around 8 feet — "damaging sea-water coastal flooding is likely through Sunday, especially near the Sunday morning high tide," the National Weather Service said. The most likely areas for damaging flooding Sunday morning are vulnerable south-facing beaches, with Long Beach and Malibu flagged as particular concerns.

Conditions could deteriorate Sunday as swells from multiple directions combine with strong winds, rain, and elevated ocean water levels associated with Rachel. Forecasters cautioned that the severity of Sunday's coastal flooding remains uncertain — with the possibility of substantially greater damage if multiple weather and ocean conditions peak simultaneously. The coastal flood warning could be extended beyond Sunday or replaced by a coastal flood advisory through Tuesday.

The rain is coming too

Meanwhile the rain is coming in from the other direction. Showers are expected to spread across Los Angeles and Orange counties Saturday night into Sunday morning, with showers potentially continuing through Tuesday night, per the weather service. Rainfall totals through Sunday evening are expected to range from a tenth to a half-inch across Los Angeles County, with up to an inch possible in the San Gabriel Mountains. Gusts of 50 to 60 mph are possible in the foothills and mountains, according to the Post's reporting.

Winds over coastal waters could reach 20 to 30 knots Saturday and Sunday, generating steep, choppy seas hazardous to small vessels. Forecasters warned that large breaking waves could injure beachgoers, sweep people off beaches and rocks, and capsize small boats near shore.

The third storm in six weeks

Richardson framed Saturday's damage in a context Long Beach hasn't faced before. "Just in this season, this marks the third hurricane in just six weeks," Richardson said, per the Post. "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," Richardson said, per the Post.

Each storm has eaten into the Peninsula's defenses. The sand berms washed away Saturday were built after the previous round of high surf — rebuilt protections getting knocked down before the next system even arrives. It's the pattern that has city officials talking about a new normal: three storms in six weeks, back-to-back rebuilds, and a beach that keeps getting narrower.

That's the same storm system that has been hammering the Southwest all week — Rachel's moisture also brought flooding rains to Arizona earlier this weekend. The difference on the coast is the ocean: tides, surf, and erosion stacking on top of the rain.

What to do

The weather service is urging residents and visitors to stay off beaches, coastal walkways, and vulnerable roads and structures — and warning motorists never to drive around barricades or through floodwaters of unknown depth. Long Beach residents are encouraged to register for emergency notifications through Alert Long Beach at AlertLB.com and to monitor updates at longbeach.gov/emergency, per MyNewsLA. City crews will continue monitoring conditions and assessing damage as the storm moves through — and with a possible extension of the warning into next week, the Peninsula's defenses will be tested again soon.

It's been a rough week for Long Beach by any measure — a magnitude 3.2 earthquake rattled the city Friday — but the ocean is the story this weekend. Eight red tags, a mandatory evacuation, a beach being rebuilt in real time, and a Sunday morning tide that could hit 8 feet. Long Beach has weathered storms before. It just hasn't weathered three of them in six weeks.

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