California storm: ‘Devastating’ waves leave Long Beach homes on brink of collapse

Emergency repairs and cleanup were underway Monday in Californias wavebattered city of Long Beach where several homes appeared on the brink of collapse and remained too dangerous to enterDevastating waves leave California beach homes on brink of collapse httpstco9hMaONSB83 httpstcoC51oINX9KZmdash AFP News Agency AFP October 13 2026Tropical Storm Rachel brought less rain than forecasters had predicted but the heavy surf driven by a confluence of factors including the abnormal storm system high tide the impact of El Nino and humancaused climate change was enough to severely damage some coastal propertiesDramatic photos and video footage showed homes along the citys peninsula teetering precariously while its historic boardwalk was partially swept awayThese kind of impacts are not normal Theyre unprecedented for our community said Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson during a weekend press conferenceThis is a sobering reminder of the power of nature he addedSome residents who lived on particularly threatened blocks were issued mandatory evacuation orders through TuesdayRichardson urged people to take seriously warnings to prepare including picking up cityprovided sandbags saying our infrastructure was not built for thisThis accelerates all of our urgency to address climate resiliency on our coastline he addedThe local leader pointed to warnings that El Ninos effects will worsen into the winter and are expected to wreak more havoc along Californias coastCity official Tom Modica detailed a plan at the press conference for immediate and longerterm resiliency strategies including repair of the damaged boardwalk as well as its failed bulkhead a vertical retaining structure thats meant to stabilize waterfront propertyModica also pointed to a dredging project intended to widen the beach by about 200 feet 60 meters by adding some 415000 cubic yards 317000 cubic meters of sand a project he said was now accelerated to begin October 19The National Hurricane Center said the worst of Rachel was over but hazardous coastal conditions could persist for days with the highest waves coinciding with high tides causing lifethreatening surf and rip currentsDevastatingPacific hurricanes that impact southern California to this degree are rareRachel was the latest named entrant in this years unusually active season weather charged by the recurring El Nino pattern that this time around is particularly extremeEl Nino raises surface temperatures in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean and causes global changes in winds and rainfallIn the Atlantic it tends to rein in the strength and frequency of hurricanes but in the Pacific it has the opposite effectHumancaused climate change can worsen El Ninos impacts A warmer atmosphere holds more moisture allowing rains to turn more intenseParis Henken a US competitive sailor said in a viral Instagram post that she had been a tenant of one of the buildings now on the brink of collapseAn ocean front 1 bedroom that had everything we could have ever wanted As an Olympic sailor aiming for LA2028 I was steps away from my playground maybe a little too close she wrote in the captionTo see three storms undo a place that brought so much peace is devastating Henken continuedShe also referenced the chorus of criticism that many homes along Californias coast belong to the wealthy or are second homes and that they never shouldve been built on such a vulnerable landscapeAlthough its true the Peninsula is home to many multimilliondollar homes our little community was far from that wrote the athleteWe are renters and can get up and move but the sense of stability this apartment gave us was everything to meThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever