Weather 
LONG BEACH, Calif. () — Homeowners battered by Hurricane Marie earlier this month are reinforcing their properties as Hurricane Polo brings high surf and the potential for more coastal flooding to Southern California. Many say they are much more prepared this time.
Preparations have been underway for days, with berms rebuilt along the coast and sandbags placed in front of garage doors and homes in areas that experienced heavy flooding during the last storm over Labor Day weekend.
“The city is taking this a lot more seriously than it did the last time around and is preparing a lot more,” Long Beach resident Marc Coleman said.
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Long Beach is preparing for another round of coastal flooding and high surf as Hurricane Polo moves off the Pacific coastline.
Eyewitness News spotted new reinforcements along the Long Beach boardwalk, where waves generated by Hurricane Marie previously left some sections splintered.
“They’ve secured parts of the boardwalk that were broken and parts of the seawall that were broken to try and shore up the defences,” Coleman said.
After the waves from Marie pummelled the Long Beach boardwalk to splintered bits, the city added reinforcements. The waves were already creeping up the beach on Sunday night as the high surf began to build.
SEE ALSO: Boardwalk damaged, structural integrity of homes questioned due to destructive Long Beach waves
Long Beach neighbors are assessing damage and preparing to rebuild after massive swells battered waterfront homes, damaging the boardwalk and eroding sand.
“The trouble is the perfect storm of the water coming in past the breakwater and the jetty, and those waves break in here instead of breaking down on the breakingwater,” Long Beach resident Gary Taylor said. “I think we’re halfway ready for it this time.”
High surf and rip current advisories are in effect through Wednesday for coastal areas of San Diego and Orange counties. AIR7 captured an overhead view of the coastline’s defenses against the rising water.
Asst. Chief Jake Heflin with Long Beach Fire said the city has worked to reinforce its berm and expand the beach ahead of potentially high tides Monday and Tuesday.
“We’ve done a lot of effort to really refortify the berm. We’ve built the beach out significantly, and obviously, we’re anticipating, potentially, a tide associated with Monday and going into Tuesday potentially being high, even 6.9 feet to 7 feet,” Heflin said.
On Thursday, Heflin that the city had also prepared water pumps to respond to possible coastal flooding.
“We have them ready to be deployed. We’ve done the efforts to hydroblast the actual sand from the storm drains. These are all things that we’ve done in preparation for that,” Heflin said.
Eyewitness News spotted dozens of sandbags positioned in front of homes in hopes of preventing flooding. Some neighbors said they had packed bags in case they need to evacuate.
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