Overview
- Over the Labor Day weekend a powerful swell from Hurricane Marie, which stayed offshore, carved 8 to 10 feet of sand from some beaches and reshaped shorelines across Orange County and greater Southern California.
- Lifeguards reported unusually dangerous conditions, issuing about 7,200 warnings and rescuing roughly 190 people while roping off unstable areas and staging sandbags and emergency crews.
- Long Beach saw streets and garages flooded, with city staff reporting 12 garages inundated and two homes with water inside, plus boardwalk damage and at least one property yellow-tagged.
- Erosion at Newport Beach’s Wedge and Balboa Pier exposed rocks, wires, asphalt, a pipe and remains of an old pier, and Malibu footage showed waves undermining the Pacific Coast Highway and washing away about 30 feet of sand.
- Cities are conducting inspections and short-term stabilization but have not released coordinated plans to replace stripped sand, a gap that highlights infrastructure vulnerability as officials warn a strong El Niño could bring more severe coastal impacts this fall and winter.