LONG BEACH, Calif. (Azat TV) – At 3:30 a.m. on Oct. 9, Shawn Curtis woke to the sound of crashing surf shaking his two-story beachfront apartment building as though an earthquake had struck. Stepping out of his bedroom, he discovered that the 25-foot-wide sand beach and the boardwalk in front of his home had completely vanished, replaced by salt water pouring in from all sides and leaving his doorframes crooked as the building began to slide toward the ocean.
“We rushed for our lives, but it was clear the house was toast,” NBC News quoted Curtis as saying regarding his Long Beach Peninsula residence of nine years. “It was a foregone conclusion.”
The sudden collapse claimed more than a dozen homes along the shore in Long Beach as the remnants of Tropical Storm Rachel whipped offshore waves up to 17 feet high. Eight structures encompassing 13 homes were immediately deemed too unsafe to enter, forcing residents to scramble to salvage belongings before emergency demolition crews moved in.
A Vulnerable Coastline Overwhelmed
The devastation unfolded over a sunny, calm weekend without any local rain or wind warning, catching coastal communities from Malibu to San Diego off guard. Massive swells overtook Laguna Beach, leaving a portion of the Pacific Coast Highway cracked and sliding toward the ocean.
According to NBC News, scientists explain that these events stem from a convergence of factors. Decades of rising sea levels driven by global temperatures are this year colliding with what is predicted to become the strongest El Niño event in recorded history, intensified by underwater Kelvin waves and record-setting king tides exceeding 7 feet.
Experts Warn the Worst Is Yet to Come
While wave and tide levels receded only slightly in the days following the disaster, researchers warn that the crisis is far from over. Climate scientist Daniel Swain noted that coastal flooding will likely worsen in the coming months, with Northern California expected to experience similar impacts in November and December ahead of El Niño’s peak early next year.
“This is just a little bit of a taste of what we will see in the future,” warned Timu Gallien, an associate professor of environmental and civil engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles, and researcher with the university’s Coastal Flood Lab, as reported by NBC News. Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson acknowledged to reporters that local infrastructure was simply not built to withstand such intense marine battering, leaving city officials, residents, and engineers grappling with the long-term viability of coastal living.