Record Tides: SoCal Coast Flooded as Water Levels Break 21-Year High

Water washed onto streets across Southern California on Monday morning as record-breaking high tides flooded coastal communities.

In Newport Beach, the surge from Newport Harbor inundated the Balboa Peninsula, reaching businesses in the Balboa Fun Zone. Long Beach residents reported similar flooding along Bayshore Beach, Naples, and the Peninsula.

City officials in both locations had spent the prior days preparing for the event. Crews moved sand to shore up beaches and installed barriers to protect areas already damaged in recent months. Over the weekend, officials urged residents in flood-prone zones to move vehicles to higher ground and secure property with sandbags.

By Monday, crews in Newport Beach were pumping out knee-high water and reinforcing sandbags along the harbor side of the Peninsula. Despite the surge, officials reported no widespread structural damage.

Georgia Rios, a spokesperson for the city of Newport Beach, attributed the limited damage to resident participation. “We saw about 25,000 sandbags go this weekend,” Rios said. “We really saw the community come out. So I think a lot of the success of not having immense amount of flooding damage is due to residents taking part and grabbing sandbags for their homes.”

The San Pedro tide gauge recorded a water level of 8.02 feet on Monday morning, breaking the previous record of 7.93 feet set in January 2005. In La Jolla, officials recorded the sea level at 7.75 feet, just below the station record of 7.81 feet set in November 2015. Chandler Price, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in San Diego, noted that higher tides are expected on Tuesday.

The National Weather Service issued a coastal flood warning for Orange and San Diego counties through Thursday afternoon. A coastal flood advisory was issued for Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo counties. The warning cites a rare combination of threats: El Niño, an active hurricane season in the eastern Pacific, a marine heat wave, and a 20-year astronomical alignment.

Water levels in Los Angeles, Orange, and San Diego counties could exceed 8 feet above the baseline this week. In Newport Beach, water reached 8.3 feet on Monday, nearly two feet higher than expected from the tide alone. Potential levels could reach 8.5 feet on Tuesday at 9:50 a.m. and Wednesday at 10:28 a.m. Ocean temperatures are 1.25 to 1.8 feet higher than typical, driven by the marine heat wave and El Niño effects.