Rachel Batters SoCal
Tropical Storm Rachel's swells and king tides are shredding the Southern California coast. Here's what's happening.
Photo: Pexels (file photo)
What Is Rachel?
Rachel was a Category 1 hurricane, downgraded to a tropical storm on Thursday. It never made landfall — but its swells are doing the damage.
Photo: Unsplash via Wikimedia Commons (file photo)
Boardwalk Shredded
Waves tore apart sections of the Long Beach Peninsula boardwalk Friday morning, sending chunks of wood floating out to sea.
Photo: Grand Welcome (file photo)
Mandatory Evacuation
Long Beach ordered evacuations for Seaside Walk between 64th and 66th Place — from 7pm Friday through noon Tuesday.
Photo: Visit Long Beach (file photo)
Homes Red-Tagged
At least 8 buildings red-tagged as unsafe, one yellow-tagged. One beachfront home is on the verge of collapsing into the Pacific.
Photo: kmf via Wikimedia Commons (file photo)
Newport Beach Closes All Beaches
Newport Beach declared an emergency as Rachel's swells flooded the Balboa Peninsula. All beaches are closed.
Photo: Don Ramey Logan via Wikimedia Commons (file photo)
Crews Fight Back
Crews filled an exposed bulkhead section with 1,000 sandbags and deployed a crane Saturday to reinforce the damaged coastline.
Photo: S.C. National Guard via Wikimedia Commons (file photo)
Third Storm in Six Weeks
Rachel follows Hurricane Marie and Hurricane Polo — and years of erosion have left the coast with almost no beach buffer.
Photo: Mbz1 via Wikimedia Commons (file photo)
15,000 Sandbags
Long Beach has handed out 7,600 sandbags for Rachel — about 15,000 total across the three storms.
Photo: Infrogmation via Wikimedia Commons (file photo)
Sunday: Worst Still Coming
The National Weather Service warns the greatest danger hits Sunday, when stronger swells combine with 8-foot high tides.
Photo: Pexels (file photo)
Malibu on Alert
Forecasters say the most likely areas for damaging flooding are vulnerable south-facing beaches — Long Beach and Malibu in particular.
Photo: LA County Beaches (file photo)
Stay Clear
A coastal flood advisory runs through Tuesday. Officials urge residents to avoid flooded streets and heed all warnings.
Photo: California Coastal Commission king tides gallery (file photo)