Crews were still checking for damage on Monday when first responders noticed something that made them stop: cracks around several oceanfront homes on the Long Beach Peninsula. By evening, fire officials had ordered about 20 homes emptied along Seaside Walk, from 63rd to 67th Place.
The Long Beach Fire Department said on Instagram that the seawall and boardwalk had been found compromised. “There are also reports of damaged and cracked concrete in between several of these homes,” the department stated.
Fire Department Capt. Jack Crabtree told the Long Beach Post what the crews saw. Concrete slabs between the houses had started to crack or buckle, and some of the fissures ran right up to, or under, the walls of the homes.
Officials said the orders were issued out of an abundance of caution. They wanted the city’s Building and Safety Bureau to evaluate the structural integrity and condition of the houses.
Tides driven by Tropical Storm Marie
Tropical Storm Marie pushed unusually high tides onto the coast over the holiday weekend. South-facing beaches in Long Beach and Malibu took the worst of it, the Los Angeles Times reported. Video from Sunday showed waves slamming into the seawall and boardwalk and throwing water and sand into the oceanfront neighborhood. Sand berms built ahead of the storm washed away completely.
The numbers are unusual. Tides in Southern California normally range from 4 to 5 feet, sometimes reaching 6 to 6.5 feet at this time of year. This week they ran higher: 6.7 feet on Sunday, 7 feet on Monday evening, with 7.2 feet forecast for Tuesday. The newspaper attributed that to unprecedented heat in the ocean, which makes water expand.
The peninsula is the part of Long Beach that has historically taken the hardest hits from high surf, particularly when powerful waves pass between the Alamitos Bay jetty and the breakwater. Together those two structures form the barrier between the ocean and the community.
The city has closed the peninsula to vehicles, except for residents, until further notice while crews continue their response. The Junipero Beach parking lot stays closed from Monday into Tuesday because of coastal impacts.
