LONG BEACH, Calif. () — Destructive waves from the remnants of Tropical Storm Rachel continued crashing into homes on the Long Beach Peninsula for a fourth day, leaving several properties on the verge of ruin and inspectors with limited time to assess the damage before the next high tide.
Eight buildings along the boardwalk have been red-tagged so far, affecting 13 individual addresses, while one building has been yellow-tagged. The number could change as inspectors get a closer look at the damage.
Crews had a small window of daylight between Sunday night’s high tide and another high tide around 10 a.m. Monday to inspect the homes and determine whether additional buildings needed to be red-tagged. They will have another brief window before Monday night’s high tide.
Video from AIR7 shows worsening damage from the relentless waves, including cracked walls of several homes and smashed windows and doors. The destruction extends beyond the exteriors of the homes, with waves washing away sand from beneath the buildings and potentially shifting their foundations.
One home had a crack stretching from its foundation to the roof, and the front half of the building appeared to have shifted.
“As the waves are hitting these structures, it’s pulling the soil away from the foundations and the substructures of these buildings, potentially undermining the foundations of these buildings,” said Dan Fox, president of the Structural Engineers Association of Southern California.
A mandatory evacuation order remains in place for residents on 64th and 65th streets along Seaside Walk.
“Long Beach is on sand, right? We’re built on sand. If the ocean gets far enough into the structures where the sand sits, it sucks it out. This is what happens,” Long Beach resident Gabriella Holt said. “I’ve lived here 12 years and have never seen anything… even just this collapse.”
Some of the sand berms built along the beach in an effort to protect homes have completely washed away.
Neighbors told Eyewitness News that although they place sandbags and prepare for high surf and flooding each year, they were not mentally prepared for this level of destruction.
“It’s unbelievable because, here in Long Beach, you think that you’re safe from big huge waves and things because of the break wall,” said resident Monica Delrosario. “When you see the force of just a swell brining those waves and doing the destruction that they’re doing, it makes you realize that you just never know with Mother Nature.”
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