Harrowing scenes as California coast battered by gargantuan waves, residents ordered to leave

Long Beach is scrambling to strengthen its vulnerable shoreline ahead of the storm’s expected worst impacts Sunday morning, with eight structures red-tagged as unsafe and another yellow-tagged, according to city officials.The damage has been concentrated along the Alamitos Peninsula, where powerful waves battered homes, damaged a boardwalk and washed away sand berms built after previous flooding.The city has deployed heavy-duty sandbags to support a failing bulkhead as officials warn that conditions could get worse.“These kinds of impacts are not normal.They’re unprecedented for our community, and while our crews have been working hard day and night.

Hundreds of employees and volunteers responding and mitigating impacts.These continued threats have brought significant damage right to our shoreline’s front door,” Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson said.The National Weather Service warned Saturday that the threat of coastal flooding would persist through Sunday, particularly during the morning high tide, when water levels could reach around 8 feet.“Damaging sea-water coastal flooding is likely through Sunday, especially near the Sunday morning high tide where anticipated tide levels are expected to be around 8 feet,” the agency warned.“The most likely areas for damaging coastal flooding on Sunday morning will be vulnerable south-facing beaches,” forecasters added, highlighting Long Beach and Malibu as areas of particular concern.The warning follows a fresh round of flooding that struck Long Beach and Newport Beach, with officials racing to prepare for more pounding surf along Southern California’s coast.“It is not normal that we see this type of activity,” Richardson said.

“Just in this season, this marks the third hurricane in just six weeks.We saw Hurricane Marie over Labor Day, which was followed soon by Hurricane Polo, and now Rachel is bringing with it more high tides, more surf, erosion that continues to cause damage to properties and d...