Long Beach Evacuates 12-Plus Homes as 8-to-12-Foot Waves Crack Walls

Q: How did a distant, weakening storm manage to crack seawalls and force sudden evacuations in Southern California?

A storm did not need to make landfall to do that damage because its energy reached the coast as long-period swells. Even weakened and hundreds of miles offshore, Marie sent powerful wave trains into Southern California for days, producing 8- to 12-foot surf, strong rip currents and repeated wave impacts timed with high tide. In Long Beach, those swells hit a vulnerable stretch of the Peninsula where officials said waves can funnel through a gap between the Alamitos Bay jetty and the breakwater. That allowed water to run up and over the berm and seawall, flooding streets, garages and homes. The repeated pounding eroded the beach, damaged the boardwalk and began compromising the seawall itself. Officials said the danger was not just flooding but possible structural damage. Cracks appeared in the seawall and in concrete between homes, and some fissures reportedly extended into interior walls. Residents described houses shaking “like an earthquake” as waves struck. Sand washed into storm drains and clogged them, worsening street flooding and reducing drainage before the next high tides. That combination — sustained swell energy, high tide, coastal flooding, erosion, overwhelmed drains and visible cracking near foundations — is why authorities evacuated more than a dozen, and in some reports about 20, oceanfront homes. The evacuation was issued as a precaution while building inspectors assessed whether the homes remained structurally safe.

3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Sep 8

Over a dozen Long Beach homes were evacuated after large waves crashed over a seawall, with officials citing several large concrete cracks extending into interior walls.
Eight- to 12-foot surf pounded Southern California beaches as the remnants of Hurricane Marie lingered about 800 miles southwest of San Diego, also causing beach erosion, coastal flooding and damage to a dozen homes and garages.
Rain from the storm’s moisture plume added to the disruption: downtown Los Angeles logged 0.73 inch through Monday versus a 0.13-inch September average, while mountain areas in Los Angeles and Ventura counties got nearly 2 inches.
Heat is now becoming the bigger threat, with downtown Los Angeles forecast to hit 98 on Wednesday but feel like 116, and Palm Springs expected to reach 109 under advisories and extreme heat warnings through Thursday.
Forecasters expect the surf to ease by Wednesday evening and cooler coastal weather by Friday, ending a stretch of unusually humid, storm-driven conditions.