SEAL BEACH, Calif. — The first big summer swell of the season brought surprise flooding to Seal Beach late Wednesday night, with workers pumping out water from the beach lot and boardwalk the following morning and building up a berm to keep the ocean from running up the sand again Thursday night.
Typically, Seal Beach worries about flooding during winter swells, but this summer south swell sent ocean water rushing over the beach and into the lot as high tide hit around 8 p.m. on Wednesday, May 17.
“Normally, we wouldn’t see a south come up and over the beach, but that’s what happened,” Lifeguard Chief Joe Bailey said. “I guess it was pretty powerful.”
Lifeguards were also digging out a tower to push it back in anticipation of Thursday evening’s wave action, with an expected 6-foot tide expected about 9 p.m.
“They were a little too close, just to make sure they don’t fall in the ocean, we’re going to back them up,” Bailey said.
Just a few weeks ago, the city had taken down the sand berm, as is typically done when spring break rolls around, Bailey said.
The water line from the previous night was still apparent on oceanfront apartment buildings and homes along the boardwalk, which was still underwater, showing where sea water reached an estimated 4 feet in height. There were no reports of damage, Bailey said.
“Our homeowners here are pretty good about knowing what happens when the water comes over, so a lot of them are very well prepared,” he said. “We hope they continue to be prepared because it could happen again tonight.”
Workers were busy Thursday using big pumps on about 2.5 feet of salt water remaining in the area. Some of the lot was closed, still covered in sand and a soppy foam mixture of salt water.
The surf forecast was only 3 feet to 4 feet for the Seal Beach area, not enough to cause a lot of worry, Bailey said. Typically, this area of beach is smaller during the summer and it’s the winter northwest swells that cause damage.
“It was a powerful swell,” he said, speculating that it was the long-intervals and swell direction that may have sent the strong waves to Seal Beach.
Other areas of the coast were getting slammed by big waves, especially at the Wedge in Newport Beach where waves upward of 15 feet drew expert riders to take on the first big south swell of the summer.
Spectators lined the sand to watch as the bombs rolled in, at times washing over the rock jetty that the waves bounce off of to form the rogue wave.
There was no flooding reported near the Balboa Pier Thursday morning – the area is prone to flooding during big south swells and high tide. Heavy machinery was being used to build a berm.
A Southern California beach hazard statement issued by the National Weather Service on Wednesday afternoon was extended to Orange County beaches until Thursday evening amid high surf and minor flooding.
Waves were expected to be 4 feet to 7 feet generally on Thursday and reach up to 8 feet at Orange County beaches, according to the NWS, which warned of dangerous swimming and surfing conditions.
Minor flooding was expected because of the high tide, but by Wednesday evening, some flooding had popped up near the Seal Beach Pier.
The NWS first issued a warning around 2 p.m. Wednesday for high tides hitting large swathes of Southern California, including the Catalina and Santa Barbara islands and Ventura and Los Angeles county beaches.
For L.A. County beaches, the warning concerned the risk of rip currents, ocean drowning and enhanced beach erosion. High tides are expected between 8 and 10 p.m. Thursday at 6.4 feet to 6.8 feet.
For experienced surfers, it was a chance to spend the morning enjoying the waves and a taste of summer.
“It’s coming, it’s right around the corner,” said Seal Beach surfer Chris Laber, hair still wet from his morning surf session. “Everything is starting to warm up, the water is starting to warm up. This winter was so cold, it’s finally starting to feel like it’s starting to turn on.”
He was surprised to see the flooding on the north side of the pier.
“We knew it was going to be big,” he said, “but we didn’t think it was going to be big enough to hit the houses.”
(Staff writer Hannah Lykke contributed to this report.)
