L.A. Beaches Under Flood Warning After Waves Breach Long Beach Boardwalk

The weather service says damaging seawater flooding is likely in Long Beach and Malibu, with the highest tide due Sunday morning.

Seawater ran ankle-deep through side streets on the Long Beach Peninsula on Friday after waves tore through a 30-foot stretch of the wooden bulkhead that keeps the ocean off the boardwalk, the Long Beach Post reported. Cars couldn't get in past 62nd Place.

A few hours later, at 2:18 p.m., the National Weather Service put Malibu and Los Angeles County's beaches under a coastal flood warning until 3 p.m. Sunday. The warning says damaging seawater flooding is likely on south-facing beaches, "especially Long Beach and Malibu," according to the alert text the Daily News published.

That morning, the coast had been under a coastal flood advisory, Fox LA reported. That's the lower alert level, used when flooding isn't expected to reach warning strength. Under the new warning, other beaches and harbors can expect minor flooding, plus surf of 4 to 7 feet and strong rip currents.

On Seaside Walk's 6400 and 6500 blocks, city inspectors red-tagged two buildings with three units between them, meaning nobody can go inside, the Post reported. City spokesperson Craig Nakano told the Post that the tags didn't push anyone out of a home: one property was under construction, and the other's owner confirmed it was empty.

A third building got a yellow tag, which allows the owner a quick trip inside for belongings but no overnight stays. Nakano said that owner had already found somewhere else to sleep. Counting a home that was yellow-tagged after Hurricane Marie, four Peninsula buildings are now damaged, and inspectors are checking homes twice a day.

The wall was exposed before Rachel showed up. Marie's waves stripped away the sand in front of the bulkhead weeks ago, according to the Post, and Hurricane Polo's swells came next. The city has handed out more than 13,600 sandbags across the three storms, according to Fox LA, and about 1,000 of them now plug the gap between 65th and 66th Place, where crews worked at low tide.

Rachel itself weakened from a Category 1 hurricane to a tropical storm early Thursday, Fox LA reported. Its swells are still arriving, and they're hitting at the same time as some of the year's highest tides.

Those tides keep rising. At the San Pedro station, the high tide is predicted at 7.4 feet at 9:24 a.m. Saturday and 7.6 feet at 9:49 a.m. Sunday, the highest of the run, according to Fox LA. Forecasters also expect large evening high tides through Saturday.

Sunday is also the day forecasters are least sure about. The weather service said rain, wind, low pressure that can push tides higher and swells from several directions could all pile up, and that Sunday's flooding "could be similar to other days, or greatly enhanced." The city expects up to half an inch of rain this weekend, along with gusts strong enough to bring down trees and power lines, the Post reported.

The warning tells people to keep away from beaches, coastal walkways and roads, and not to drive past barricades or into water when they can't tell how deep it is. It also says rock jetties can be deadly in surf like this.

The warning might not end on schedule. The weather service said it may be extended past Sunday or turned into an advisory that runs through Tuesday.

The city is planning a multimillion-dollar dredging project to rebuild the Peninsula's eroded beach, according to the Post, and the long-term fixes are expected to cost even more. Until that work happens, Sunday's 7.6-foot tide will meet a patched wooden wall and a pile of sandbags.

Source: Los Angeles Daily News, retrieved October 9, 2026. Other sources: lbpost.com, foxla.com.