Long Beach Red-Tags 2 Peninsula Buildings as Hurricane Rachel Waves Breach Boardwalk
Updated
Updated · LAist · Oct 10
Long Beach Red-Tags 2 Peninsula Buildings as Hurricane Rachel Waves Breach Boardwalk
3 articles · Updated · LAist · Oct 10
Summary
Two Peninsula buildings with three units were red-tagged Friday after Hurricane Rachel-driven surf tore through the boardwalk and damaged a bulkhead, leaving them unsafe to enter; a third building was yellow-tagged.
Roughly 1,000 sandbags were rushed in as crews pumped shin-deep floodwater from streets and closed vehicle access at 62nd Place, while waves kept eroding foundations and ripping planks from the shoreline boardwalk.
Five Peninsula structures are now tagged in total—2 red and 3 yellow—including two buildings already yellow-tagged after Hurricane Marie weeks ago; inspectors will keep checking homes twice daily.
Forecasters expect tides to reach 7.5 feet Saturday and nearly 8 feet Sunday morning, with waves up to 8 feet, a flood warning likely later Friday, and rain of 0.5 to 0.75 inch into Monday.
The latest damage adds pressure to Long Beach's planned multimillion-dollar dredging project to rebuild the eroded beach, as repeated hurricane-driven swells keep exposing the neighborhood's last ocean barrier.
Could the catastrophic flooding in Newport Beach be less about freak weather and more about a fundamental collapse of coastal defense systems?
As temporary sand berms fail against compound flooding, is Southern California's luxury coastline facing an inevitable permanent retreat from the ocean?
With beach erosion accelerating and seawalls overtopped, how long until waterfront real estate in these iconic beach towns becomes completely uninsurable?