Erosion has compromised the parking lot at Aliso Beach. Photo: Greg Viviani//@solaglocal
Long-period Southern Hemisphere swells tacked onto an El Niño-fueled hurricane season have battered Aliso Beach this summer season. The popular stretch of sand known for skimboarding, surfing, and a standing wave at a creek mouth has been stripped of its sand and required emergency sand replenishment from the City of Laguna Beach.
Recent videos posted to social media by local videographer Greg Viviani show the extent of the damage. Piles of riprap and a seawall, typically buried under feet of sand, are completely exposed. Remnants of the pier that used to extend off the beach three decades ago have been unearthed. Erosion has reached the parking lot and damaged infrastructure threatens to take away the beach’s palm trees.
“I haven’t seen this much sand displaced or moved this early in the season,” Viviani told The Inertia. “I would say something similar would be 2014 when Hurricane Marie hit – also back in 1997 and ‘98.”
The 1997-98 El Niño was one of the strongest on record, although it could be surpassed by the current “Godzilla” iteration of the weather pattern. In 1998, Orange County removed Aliso Beach’s pier after it sustained significant damage from a season of strong El Niño swells. The former pier pilings and rebar are now sticking out of the sand, posing a risk to beachgoers.
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According to Viviani, the City sent dump trucks with sand collected from Main Beach to dump on areas of Aliso where the infrastructure was most threatened. In a statement, the city said the beach’s parking lot is closed, and that they removed power lines that were connected to palm trees at risk of toppling into the ocean.
Beach erosion throughout the south swell summer season is expected at Aliso Creek, and during the winter months, the northwesterly swells replenish sand, pushing it south from Treasure Island Beach. But Viviani says this is the worst he’s seen it, even before hurricane season has reached its crescendo.
Exposed sections of the Aliso Beach pier that Laguna Beach removed in 1998 after a strong El Niño season. Photo: Greg Viviano//@solaglocal
While the next tropical storm has yet to form, several models suggest it could take a northward track and send strong waves and precipitation towards California, exacerbating erosion at vulnerable beaches like Aliso.
“I know we have a potential major hurricane on the way for Labor Day weekend,” added Viviani. “It’s going to be extremely dangerous.”
