Newport Beach Closes Beaches and Piers After Rachel Floods Balboa Peninsula

Forecasters expect the worst Sunday morning, when tides topping 7 feet could meet surf with sets as high as 9 feet.

On the Balboa Peninsula, low tide stopped being much help Friday: the ocean stayed so high that seawater couldn't drain off the streets, Newport Beach officials said.

Newport Beach declared a local emergency Friday after surf and swollen tides tied to Tropical Storm Rachel flooded peninsula streets Thursday night, Fox 11 reported. By Saturday morning the city had closed all of its beaches and piers until further notice. "Stay away from these areas," the Newport Beach Police Department posted on X. Forecasters say the worst water is still ahead.

The National Weather Service's coastal flood warning for Orange County beaches runs through 3 p.m. Sunday. Forecasters expect the biggest threat Sunday morning, when stronger swells, onshore winds and high tides topping 7 feet could all land at once, ABC7 reported. A beach hazards statement for Sunday calls for sets as high as 9 feet, according to Fox 11.

Friday showed what that can look like. Videos posted on social media showed knee-deep water on the peninsula, with homes and parked cars sitting in it, NBC Los Angeles reported. The city's utilities director estimated 15 to 20 blocks of flooded streets, ABC7 reported, with no official count yet of damage to homes.

"One of our biggest challenges is that the ocean water levels remain unusually high even during the low tide," City Manager Seimone Jurjis, who issued the declaration, said at a Friday evening news conference, the Newport Beach Independent reported.

He said that limits how fast the streets can drain, even with the gear the city has. Newport Beach keeps 86 tidal valves to stop the ocean from pushing up through storm drains and 18 pumps to clear streets near the harbor, Fox 11 reported.

So the city is also piling up sand. Six crews spent Friday rebuilding berms along the shoreline with heavy equipment, and Jurjis said the aim was to reinforce the riskiest spots first, before each new high tide. The emergency order backs that up: Jurjis said it helps the city line up more people and equipment, including mutual aid from other agencies.

The county got surprised, too. "Everybody got caught off guard," Orange County Supervisor Katrina Foley, the board's vice chair, told City News Service, saying the swell hit earlier than planners expected. Her office got 10,000 sandbags to the city Friday morning and 20,000 more later, ABC7 reported, and she asked the governor's office for conservation corps crews or the National Guard.

Jurjis also asked drivers to stay off the flooded streets, and not only for their own sake. A car plowing through standing water sends a wake into the homes along the curb, he said, and empty roads leave crews room to work.

Rachel's surf isn't only Newport's problem. In Long Beach, officials counted a damaged boardwalk and five damaged structures, Fox 11 reported, and the Surfrider Foundation said parking at Surf Beach, in San Onofre State Beach, closed after high surf and tides tore up the shoreline Wednesday.

Newport Beach is giving away prefilled sandbags at its Corporation Yard, 592 Superior Ave., while supplies last. Lifeguards on the peninsula and the city's fire stations have empty ones. Once the warning lapses, a coastal flood advisory stays up until 2 p.m. Tuesday.

When Mayor Lauren Kleimen announced the emergency Friday, she said the highest tides were expected Sunday. "These conditions are not behind us," she said.

Source: foxla.com, retrieved October 10, 2026. Other sources: nbclosangeles.com, abc7.com, foxla.com (2), newportbeachindy.com.