A powerful swell battered the Long Beach coast this week. Photo: Blair Conklin // YouTube
The Southern California coast was battered by swells this week. One of the witnesses to the destruction was skimboarder Blair Conklin, who showed off the damage to his hometown in a new video.
On Monday, high surf and powerful waves led to mandatory evacuations for around 20 homes in Long Beach. Propelled by the remnants of Hurricane Marie off the Pacific Coast, the surf eroded sand, damaged a walkway and threatened homes’ foundations.
“There’s pylons and stuff that we haven’t seen ever,” one resident told KTLA. “I’ve been here, like, almost 20 years … it’s all gone.”
On Wednesday, residents were allowed to return after city officials inspected 19 properties. Long Beach Fire Department Captain Jack Crabtree told CBS that no homes were red-tagged, meaning they were unsafe to enter. However, one property was yellow-tagged, meaning the inhabitants were allowed to enter to recover essential belongings, but could not stay.
About an hour south from Long Beach, Blair Conklin showed off his perspective of the Hurricane Marie swell. The YouTuber, skimboarder, and Laguna Beach local had just returned from traveling during August to find his home break completely changed.
“We know that changing beaches are a constant on this coast, but now more than ever, that rate of change is super fueled by both El Niño and climate change,” he wrote. “Water temperatures along the Southern California coast have reached an all-time high this summer. Sea Levels are higher than usual due to the west winds and Kelvin Waves generated from the El Niño. You combine all that with a Hurricane Marie 2.0 swell and you are left with a dramatically changed coastline.”
