Rachel's Worst Passes Laguna Beach by as Berms Hold and Alerts Stretch Into Tuesday

Sunday's feared peak of the Rachel episode never fully arrived in Laguna Beach. City Manager Dave Kiff said Sunday morning's swell was lighter than the forecasts called for, after Friday's waves came in larger than predicted. "The (forecasts) were a little off," Kiff said Sunday.

The reprieve followed a long Saturday night for Public Works crews, who scooped sand from one side of Main Beach to build 15-foot-high sand berms along the surfline. The mounds were meant to hold back the waves and high tides that had rushed over the sand, across the boardwalk and onto Coast Highway on Friday, snarling traffic and drawing crowds of onlookers.

The view from Heisler Park in Laguna Beach. City crews spent the weekend reinforcing sand berms and monitoring vulnerable stretches of the coast.

NorbertNagel, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons · Source

Downtown still braced for the worst. Shopkeepers along Forest Avenue and the promenade put up flood gates on concern that Laguna Creek, swollen with runoff from inland communities, might join up with the incoming tide and flood much of the low-lying downtown. Dozens of onlookers gathered on the boardwalk at Main Beach to watch the water. The newly built berms held through the 9:45 a.m. high tide, and a contracted sand-scooper kept digging near the creek mouth to keep a clear passage to the ocean.

The all-clear is not yet in hand. Coastal flood alerts for Orange County beaches remain in effect into Tuesday, with moderate coastal flooding possible around morning high tides and continued beach erosion from elevated surf. Laguna Beach was among the coastal cities distributing sandbags to the public on Sunday.

Forecasters expect skies to gradually clear by Tuesday. Highs in Orange County are expected to rebound into the low-to-mid 70s on Tuesday and climb toward 89 by Wednesday as a ridge begins to build.

The boardwalk at Main Beach in Laguna Beach under heavy clouds. The newly built sand berms held through Sunday's 9:45 a.m. high tide.

Jo.jo1996, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons · Source

Elsewhere along the coast, the damage ledger is longer. In Long Beach, 13 residences across eight buildings were red-tagged after waves pounded the Alamitos Peninsula beginning Friday, with more damage during Saturday night and Sunday morning high tides. Newport Beach declared a local emergency Saturday and kept its piers and the Wedge closed, with berms built along nearly the city's entire coastline.

Laguna Beach officials have warned the ocean battering could continue for an extended stretch. For now, the weekend's heaviest feared punch has passed the city by.