Extra-High Tides Threaten O.C. Homes. Metrolink Is Cutting Oceanside Trains.

Forecasters warn low-lying homes will flood Sunday to Thursday, and Orange County Line trains will stop at Laguna Niguel/Mission Viejo.

Laura Hamilton is clearing everything off her floor and stacking "sandbags upon sandbags," she told ABC7, for the flooding forecasters expect this week. She's lived in Newport Beach for 30 years and told the station she'd never seen water run down her street the way it did earlier this month.

The next round started Sunday. The National Weather Service in San Diego put the Orange and San Diego county coasts under a coastal flood warning from 5 a.m. Sunday to 1 p.m. Thursday, and its bulletin doesn't hedge: numerous roads may close, and low-lying homes, businesses and "some critical infrastructure will be inundated."

Earlier in October it took Tropical Storm Rachel's waves, on top of high water, to swamp the Balboa Peninsula and close Newport's piers. This time the danger is mostly the tide. Every morning's high tide could run 1 to 1.7 feet above prediction, the warning says. Weather service meteorologist Dave Munyan told ABC7 that warm ocean water expands, while Kelvin waves tied to El Niño are "kind of producing a slosh effect" that pushes the background tide higher.

Metrolink isn't waiting to find out. From Oct. 26 through Oct. 30, Orange County Line trains will turn back at Laguna Niguel/Mission Viejo instead of running the coast to Oceanside, the agency announced Thursday, LAist reported. No buses will fill the gap. Erosion and landslides have disrupted that beachfront stretch near San Clemente since 2021, according to LAist, and Metrolink spokesman Brett Hawkins told ABC7 that pulling the trains early cuts the "cascading effects" on the rest of the system.

The L.A. County side gets a lighter coastal flood advisory for the same hours. The Los Angeles office expects tides of 7.5 to 8 feet each late morning, highest Monday through Wednesday. Bike paths, harbor walkways and the parking lots by the sand will likely take on seawater, and there's a small chance of isolated flood warnings Wednesday or Thursday if bigger surf develops. Long Beach has crews piling sand back into berms along its shoreline, according to ABC7.

Newport Beach declared a local emergency Oct. 19 and opened its emergency operations center, MyNewsLA reported. The city's flood page says ocean levels lately have run 18 to 22 inches above predicted tides, and it urges people on Balboa Island, the Peninsula, Newport Island, West Newport and the Finley Tract to prepare. Free filled sandbags are at the Corporation Yard, 592 Superior Ave.; Marina Park, 1600 W. Balboa Blvd.; and the temporary Fire Station No. 1 by Balboa Pier.

Hamilton's sandbags may be out for a while. City officials say this week's king tides are only the first in a series, and Newport expects more stretches of abnormally high water in November and December.

Source: abc7.com, retrieved October 24, 2026. Other sources: LAist, mynewsla.com, newportbeachca.gov, forecast.weather.gov, forecast.weather.gov (2).