Long Beach Orders Peninsula Residents Out as Rachel's Waves Break Through

Inspectors red-tagged eight buildings on Seaside Walk, and Sunday morning's tide is forecast to reach nearly 8 feet.

Waves splashing as high as some rooftops broke through the wooden bulkhead on the Long Beach Peninsula on Friday night.

The city ordered people in nine oceanfront properties to leave the two blocks between 64th and 66th places, the Long Beach Post reported in a story published by LAist. That bulkhead is the only thing left between the neighborhood and the ocean, and it's stood bare since Hurricane Marie's waves stripped away the sand in front of it. Swells from Tropical Storm Rachel left it badly damaged Friday, and water reached homes and side streets.

The damage count climbed fast. As of Friday morning, inspectors had red-tagged two structures on Seaside Walk, Fox 11 reported. By that night, eight buildings on the 6400 and 6500 blocks were red-tagged, covering 13 addresses that are now too dangerous to enter.

A ninth building got a yellow tag, so its owner can step inside long enough to grab belongings but can't sleep there. At least one home on the 6500 block of Seaside Walk looked close to collapse, the Post reported, as residents waded through shin-deep water and onlookers filmed the waves.

The tags are preliminary. A red tag can be lowered to yellow after repairs pass inspection, and inspectors are checking the homes twice a day, said Craig Nakano, who speaks for the city's Community Development Department.

Crews pumped water off the streets into the evening and packed roughly 1,000 sandbags into the broken stretch. City spokesman Laath Martin said a construction crane would arrive Saturday to help brace the bulkhead. Even before Friday night, the city had handed out more than 13,600 sandbags across three recent storms, Fox 11 reported.

Rachel was a Category 1 hurricane until early Thursday, when it was downgraded, according to Fox 11. Its waves are the latest in a run of hurricane-fed swells that have battered the Peninsula in just a few weeks.

The bigger fix is sand, and the city is hurrying it. Martin said a $230,000 job moving between 50,000 and 100,000 cubic yards of sand onto the eroded beach starts Saturday. Permanent fixes are expected to cost more than that.

The weekend won't let up. Bryan Lewis, a National Weather Service meteorologist, said tides should hit 7.5 feet Saturday and nearly 8 feet around 10 a.m. Sunday. Waves running 4 to 7 feet could build to 8 feet by Sunday, he said, and conditions likely won't ease until Wednesday morning.

The weather service has a coastal flood warning up along the shore from Malibu to Long Beach through 3 p.m. Sunday. City officials have closed Peninsula streets to everyone but residents and say flooding is most likely from 6 a.m. to noon on both days.

Rain is coming too. The city expects up to half an inch this weekend, with wind gusts that could bring down trees and power lines, and Lewis said a second storm system, separate from Rachel, should arrive Monday. Mayor Rex Richardson urged residents in a statement to stay ready and follow the city's guidance.

The Long Beach Marathon is still on. Part of its route hugs the coast, then swings inland before it ever gets to the Peninsula.

The full $11.4 million dredging project that's meant to rebuild the beach is scheduled to start the week of Oct. 19. Sunday's tide, the highest of the weekend, is due around 10 a.m.

Source: LAist, retrieved October 10, 2026. Other sources: foxla.com.