The worst of the flooding may be yet to come. Photo: @wedgecrew//@craigwhetter//Instagram
A high tide, multiple south swells, and an eroded beach combined to push the ocean into Newport Beach’s streets this morning, October 9. Videos circulating online showed several inches of salt water flooding yards and roadways at the Wedge and around the Balboa Peninsula.
A nonstop summer and fall of El Niño-fueled hurricane swells have stripped much of the sand away from the Wedge, exposing an old pier, rocks, and rusted metal. In August, Newport Beach surf videographer Brent Weldon told The Inertia that the erosion was the worst he’d ever seen.
“With the lack of sand, more of the old railroad tracks and rocks that were used to build the jetty may continue to become exposed, and there’s also an increased risk of flooding reaching nearby homes,” Weldon said.
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On Friday morning, a 5.8-foot high tide and overlapping south swells from the Southern Hemisphere and Tropical Storm Rachel did just that, damaging homes near the shoreline. And there’s reason to believe the worst is yet to come.
“It’s already bad and the swell coming is a lot bigger,” local pro surfer Sage Burke told The Inertia, referencing the incoming weather expected from Tropical Storm Rachel. Burke took advantage of the flooded streets to surf behind a car.
Rachel is currently 800 miles southwest of San Diego with 50 mph winds, and is expected to make landfall in Northern Baja California or Southern California early Sunday morning. As the storm nears, the resulting waves, storm surge, and precipitation could be more devastating than today’s flooding.
“These swells are likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions, as well as moderate to isolated major coastal flooding, through early next week,” the National Hurricane Center said.
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