High tide, waves crash against Long Beach boardwalk from Hurricanes Odalys, Polo

The first impacts of Hurricanes Odalys and Polo were felt in Southern California late Monday morning, Sept. 28, as a boardwalk in a peninsula neighborhood in Long Beach saw waves crash against a sea wall, with some dropping water near beach side homes.

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The boardwalk, which had been damaged in multiple places after it was hammered by Hurricane Marie earlier this month, was in the process of being fixed as the new storms arrived. Officials, starting Friday, Sept. 25, handed out some 5,100 sandbags to residents in the area in hopes they would help prevent flooded homes and streets.

One home on 65th Place had also been yellow-tagged as of Friday, though it wasn’t immediately clear if it was in relation to the incoming tides.

High tides from the two hurricanes were anticipated to last until at least Tuesday evening, with the National Weather Service announcing coastal flood and high surf advisories for Los Angeles County beaches through 5 p.m. Tuesday.

The previous impacts of Hurricane Marie led the Long Beach Fire Department to evacuate 24 homes and close down the boardwalk for several blocks after waves and water caused some of the wood planks to cave in.

The impact of Odalys and Polo was not anticipated to be as strong, but forecasters warned of vulnerability in spots like Long Beach, Malibu and Catalina due to beach erosion.

Monday’s waves were not nearly as intense as what the Peninsula neighborhood of Long Beach saw earlier this month. The crashing waves caused water to rise about a foot or two above the boardwalk starting around 11 a.m., with a patch of more intense waves that followed.

Calmer conditions prevailed around 2 p.m.

On Tuesday afternoon, Long Beach resident Joana Rodriguez brought her daughters to see the historic boardwalk in person. Rodriguez said that she had been seeing how damaged it was from videos and photos on social media.

“We used to come this way all the time to enjoy the beach, it used to be all the way over there and now it’s gone,” the mother of two said.

“She’s in shock, she used to love it here,” Rodriguez said about her sixth grader, Leyla, who had just got out of school and was still in her school uniform.

“I hope they fix it soon,” Leyla said about the boardwalk.

Checking out the boardwalk and the tides along the Peninsula was longtime Long Beach resident Tina Musto.

“I am just amazed because this has never happened since I’ve been here for 40 years,” Musto said, who used to live in Belmont Shore but now lives in North Long Beach. “I never saw the water ever come past and get into these houses. I’ve never seen that.”

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“The ocean is a strong thing to deal with,” Musto said. “There’s the wind, there’s the waves, and a lot of people take it for granted.”

At Zuma Beach and Point Dume in Malibu, no increased water activity was seen as of Monday afternoon as people enjoyed an afternoon on the beach, with some sunbathing.

Cameron Wellwood, a Malibu resident, said aside from it being unusually windy, there was “nothing much of significance” that he considered alarming about the conditions.

The area experienced significant long-term erosion over the years, Wellwood said, with the shoreline reaching the road in some places. He was concerned that another substantial south swell combined with high tides could cause further erosion.

“My biggest concern is they’re not doing anything, they’re not trying to solve the problem,” he said. 
“They’re just adding more and more rocks. And then eventually we’ll be sitting in my car looking at rocks.”

Lynne Davis, who’s visiting from Scottsdale, Arizona, said she and a companion had initially planned to spend the afternoon at Paradise Cove Beach Cafe, a beachfront restaurant just east of the Point Dume and Zuma Beach area, but waves were splashing over tables along the sand, forcing them to move further back. They eventually left and headed to Zuma Beach.

At Zuma, Davis said conditions appeared less severe and that she remained cautious about venturing too far into the water.

“But I just go in up to my ankles anyway, or up to my knees,” she said. “Yeah, but it’s very windy.”

A second high tide was anticipated after 11 p.m. Monday night, bringing with it the chance of coastal flooding along south-facing beaches.

National Weather Service forecasters said waves could reach up to 4 to 7 feet on top of the high tides and moderate flooding was possible in vulnerable low-lying areas, including beach parking lots, bike paths and harbor walkways. No flooding was seen as of 3 p.m. Monday.

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