Dana Point declared a local emergency Wednesday afternoon after one home off Beach Road in Capistrano Beach was nearly swept into the ocean by heavy surf and eight more remained red-tagged because of damage from the waves and high tides that pummeled the coast over the last several days.
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More homes were tagged by officials early Wednesday after another night of high tide. Now seven have been yellow-tagged.
“The numbers keep going up,” Mayor John Gabbard said Wednesday afternoon. “And, we have another high tide tonight at 8:30 p.m.”
As the city’s acting emergency director, City Manager Kelly Reenders declared the emergency Wednesday, which the City Council will need to meet on next week. The declaration will be in effect for at least 60 days.
The declaration is a reminder that the area is dangerous and that there is a possibility of more destruction in the hours and days ahead, Gabbard said.
A home Matt Larmand’s grandmother built in 1955 and he grew up in was being battered but still standing on Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026, as shown here. By the next morning, the seawall and deck had been destroyed. The family sold the home a few years ago. (Photo courtesy of Larmand)
A home former resident Matt Larmand’s grandmother built in 1955 and he grew up in was being battered but still standing on Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026. By the next morning, as seen here in the photo, the seawall and deck had been destroyed. The family sold the home a few years ago. (Photo courtesy of Larmand)
A home former resident Matt Larmand’s grandmother built in 1955 and he grew up in was being battered but still standing on Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026. By the next morning, as seen here in the photo, the seawall and deck had been destroyed. The family sold the home a few years ago. (Photo courtesy of Larmand)
A home Matt Larmand’s grandmother built in 1955 and he grew up in was being battered but still standing on Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026, as shown here. By the next morning, the seawall and deck had been destroyed. The family sold the home a few years ago. (Photo courtesy of Larmand)
“The city of Dana Point stands alongside the people of the Capistrano Bay District in responding to the devastating loss of their homes on Beach Road,” Gabbard said. “Collectively, our hearts break for their loss, and we are inspired by their steadfast devotion to this community.”
Beach Row, as the stretch of 189 homes fronting the ocean is often called, is a gate-guarded community in the privately administered Capistrano Bay District tucked between the water and Pacific Coast Highway on the south end of Dana Point bordering San Clemente.
The damaged homes are all on the southern end of Beach Road close to Poche Beach.
Donal Russell, general manager for the Capistrano Bay District, said Wednesday afternoon the swell was starting to ease and the tides were more favorable, allowing workers to try and salvage homes and decks.
Still, even with dropping swells, he expected the damage to continue.
“With all the homes that have lost their seawalls, it doesn’t take very much in the way of a high tide to come in and scour out more sand, because they don’t have the benefit of a protected sea wall,” he said. “Those red-tagged numbers are going to climb, and those yellow-tagged, unfortunately. That’s the reality of the situation down there.”
Right now, everyone is in “emergency mode” to try and provide protection, he added.
“When the smoke clears, then we’ll turn to other solutions — and we don’t know what those are going to be right now,” Russell said.
By issuing the emergency declaration, Gabbard said it underlines the danger in the area and warns people to stay away.
“There is a lot of debris in the water. People need to stay away,” Gabbard said. “It’s not like they’re going to be hit by a piece of driftwood; these things have nails in the lumber. People need to stay away from Beach Road, stay out of the water and stay away from all the construction work going on there.”
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Former Beach Road resident Matt Larmand wanted to check in Tuesday on the beach cottage his family called home for 70 years, which he had only recently sold.
He was shocked at how much sand was gone, he said, but was relieved to see the cottage was still there.
But the joy was short-lived: On Wednesday, he got the text that the neighbor’s seawall had gone down. And the family’s former beachfront cottage was being swallowed by the sea.
“I had a feeling it would be a chain reaction,” he said. “They are all kind of connected.
“I can’t believe how fast it wiped out all the sand and deck,” he said. “I can’t believe how fast it happened.”
Large wooden planks were also washing up along beaches to the north, carried by the waves and landing among the rocks and on the sand, some with sharp, rusty nails sticking out.
As former State Parks Ranger Jim Serpa, who once oversaw the nearby Doheny State Beach, put it after checking on his old stomping grounds: “People’s dreams washing up at Doheny. Tragic.”
“All those boards have giant nails and screws coming out of them, that could be dangerous if one gets caught in the surf and somebody gets hit,” he said.
He also remembers the beach at South Doheny disappearing during the El Niño in 2015, erosion that knocked down a row of palm trees. Now, some of the last of them are about to slip off the sand, roots unearthed as the trees are held together with yellow caution tape.
The heavy surf caused destruction in other sections of coastline.
Aliso Beach, a popular South Laguna stretch, started experiencing problems a week ago when big waves and foaming tides washed over the beach and its parking lot, prompting city officials to close it down for the Labor Day weekend.
On Wednesday, City Manager Dave Kiff said four homes in Laguna Beach had been yellow-tagged, meaning entry is limited. He said the damage was to their yards and not the habitable space inside the homes.
At Aliso Beach, he said, the damage will remain roped off.
Laguna Beach Mayor Mark Orgill also reminded residents, via social media, that now is the time to have seawalls inspected in anticipation of a significant El Niño storm season ahead.
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