For experienced surfers, the hurricane swell that rolled into Southern California over the holiday was a thrilling treat, some of the best waves in the past decade.
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But Hurricane Marie — which bears the same name as a historic swell many will remember from 2014 — left a wave of devastation in her wake in recent days.
Multiple homes were damaged and even destroyed by the ocean’s force when the strong swell hit just as a mega tide arrived that pushed walls of saltwater onto properties, destroying patios and decks and dreams of beachfront living.
Sand has disappeared from beloved beaches, entire stretches of coast washed into the sea. Big cliffs of sand or exposed rocks remain, leaving a hazard that lifeguards are now having to contend with.
During the holiday weekend, lifeguards darted up and down the coast to warn beachgoers of the ocean’s dangers, over the three days saving the lives of hundreds of people who found themselves in a deadly tangle with the ocean’s currents and force.
“The conditions were treacherous,” Newport Beach Marine Safety Chief Brian O’Rourke said. “There were a lot of those heroic, mass rescues. Swimmers, bodyboarders, surfers — everybody was out trying to push themselves in conditions they probably shouldn’t be out in. It’s not just the basic visitors who came from all over to cool off. It’s also people who wanted to get out in the water and found themselves above water, so to speak.”
Lifeguards in Newport Beach recorded 213 rescues through the holiday weekend, O’Rourke said. And the weekend capped an already busy summer for local agencies.
Lifeguards in Newport Beach have made just over 5,000 rescues since the start of the year, and nearly 100,000 preventative actions, warning people of dangers before they happen.
An average year sees around 3,000 rescues, with an estimated 50,000 preventative actions, O’Rourke said.
The swell further exposed dangers at the Wedge, Orange County’s iconic big-wave spot, where lifeguards had to use a chainsaw to chop down sharp wooden planks left shooting up from the sand, remnants of when the jetty was built in the 1920s.
In Dana Point, Huntington Beach, Laguna Beach and Newport Beach, big drop-offs have been left where sand was chomped away by the sea, leaving an unstable wall behind.
“We want people to be careful they aren’t below it and getting trapped and swept out to sea in the areas where we get big surges and big waves,” O’Rourke said. One beach now features an 8-foot drop as beachgoers approach the water.
The beach is experiencing more erosion than he’s seen in his nearly 40 years working as a lifeguard, O’Rourke said. “We’re just experiencing a lot of south swell that is continuing to pound our beaches.”
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The hope is that winter swells will shift the direction of the waves and push back some of the lost sand, he said.
Officials along the coast have spent the start of the week assessing damage to beaches, oceanfront infrastructure and homes.
San Onofre Surf Beach, one of the most beloved beaches, has limited access because the lower dirt lot is shut down again after being battered by waves.
The historic district at Crystal Cove State Beach saw severe erosion, and while its beloved cottages are intact, an access road and water line were undermined, State Parks Peace Officer Lt. Paul Andrus said.
“The whole beach is cobble, we’ve lost all the sand, the water is coming up to the bluffs along the entire stretch of coast,” he said.
In Laguna Beach, lifeguards recorded 204 rescues through the three-day weekend. When a beachfront deck and seawall went down near Victoria Beach, they also had to keep the public away from that stretch of beach — though the high tide and strong waves did most of the work, Laguna Beach Marine Safety Chief Kai Bond said.
Continued big surf on Monday broke a sewer line near Corona del Mar State Beach, prompting Orange County Public Health officials to put up advisory warning signs while the city repairs the line.
Aliso Beach, once one of the region’s sandiest beaches, is now mostly rocks. The county worked earlier this week to clean up the beachfront lot, filled with sand and debris that washed into the parking area.
Likewise, the parking lot in Capistrano Beach in Dana Point remained closed Wednesday as OC Parks continues to assess the area and clean up the mess left behind from the weekend’s big surf.
Huntington Beach lifeguards tried to reach every beachgoer who looked like they were going to get into the water, Marine Safety Chief Trevor McDonald said, making for nearly 3,100 preventative actions. Only 46 rescues had to be made.
“We tried to contact every single person who came down to the beach and let them know how dangerous it was,” he said. “We weren’t able to talk to everyone, but attempted to talk to anyone who was thinking it was a good day to swim, because it was a dangerous time to get in the water.”
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