Crystal Cove Cottages Stay Closed Through Tuesday as Crews Size Up Erosion Damage
State Parks evacuated 26 historic cottages at Crystal Cove on Friday and canceled reservations through at least Tuesday. The park is open with restrictions while crews inspect what Rachel left behind.
The historic beach cottages at Crystal Cove State Park remained empty on Tuesday, four days after California State Parks cleared their occupants out ahead of the worst of Rachel's surf. The park, which runs along Coast Highway just north of Laguna Beach, is open with restrictions, but the cottages at the center of its Historic District are closed while crews assess the damage.
State Parks said on Oct. 9 that significant erosion had damaged coastal infrastructure at the park and threatened parts of the Historic District. As a precaution, the occupants of 26 cottages in vulnerable areas were evacuated, and reservations for the affected cottages were canceled through at least Tuesday, Oct. 13. The closure period could be extended depending on what the damage assessments find and how the weather behaves.
Crews have been installing temporary sand-filled barriers to protect the historic buildings and other vulnerable infrastructure. State Parks is assessing damage to the historic facilities, utilities and beach access areas, and FTN News reported that officials are inspecting them to determine which areas can safely reopen. Sections of the Historic District beach remain closed even though the wider park is open, and officials have not announced when all of the affected areas will reopen.
The cottages are the park's signature lodging: a row of beachfront cottages in the Historic District dating from the 1930s and 1940s, some of them available for overnight stays. Anyone holding a reservation for the coming days should check directly with the Crystal Cove Conservancy or ReserveCalifornia before traveling, FTN News advised.
Crystal Cove took its hit from the same episode that flooded Laguna Beach streets last week, when high surf and unusually elevated tides combined with the remnants of Tropical Storm Rachel. The National Weather Service kept a coastal flood advisory in place for Orange County beaches through 2 p.m. Tuesday, with morning high tides of 7 to 7.5 feet expected Monday and Tuesday and elevated surf gradually subsiding over the following days.
Crystal Cove was not the only state park still mending fences on Monday. At San Onofre State Beach, erosion damaged the Surf Beach access road and parking areas and a broken water main left the beach without restrooms or water service, and the park's Oct. 12 status update kept the lower dirt parking lots closed until further notice. For Crystal Cove, the next announcement to watch is whether the cottage cancellations roll past Tuesday.
We correct errors promptly and note them here. Send corrections through our contact form (choose the Correction topic).
