#Large pictures of ocean waves update#
#Large pictures of ocean waves windows#

She noticed work done to reinforce the pathway with sand bags in recent weeks, only to be exposed and battered by this week’s storm. Harl cringed as a group of teens went beyond the fence and climbed up on a lifeguard chair, quickly learning it was a bad idea and scrambling down as waves slammed down and shook the structure.įor Harl, who drives from Mission Viejo to visit this beach, Capistrano Beach is a convenient place to park and access the shore with only a short walk. A chain-link fence blocked the parking lot, where water, rocks and sand covered the asphalt. As soon as the waves come up the steep part of the berm, it’s only about 10 feet in some areas before it’s on the sidewalk and parking lot,” he said of Aliso Beach.Ĭity and county officials are waiting on word of federal funds from the Army Corps of Engineers that would provide millions of dollars to bring in more sand as a buffer from the sea at spots in both northern and southern Orange County.Īt Capistrano Beach, the waves were big enough this week to move heavy concrete K-Rails. “The beach is quite eroded, so it’s narrow. OC Lifeguards Chief Jason Young said big summer swells combining with a high tide isn’t unheard of this time of year, but the lack of sand is leading to the recent flooding of parking lots. Part of it disappeared last year and never recovered, but this is even worse.”

“I’ve never seen the beach completely gone. “It’s so crazy,” said Tracy Fisher Stay, who since 1984 has lived by Cotton’s Point in San Clemente, where the seawater splashed onto passing trains Thursday night. While sea-level rise is often pointed at as the culprit destroying the precious coastline, the eroding and disappearing sand buffer is also a reason infrastructure is at risk, experts and long-time residents say. OC Parks, which manages Capistrano Beach, last week presented a plan to the California Coastal Commission to add cobblestone to the beach to try to protect what’s left at the small slice of sand, hoping to save a popular walkway and beach path that connect to the south end of Doheny State Beach, which is also being chomped away at by the sea. Locally, officials are trying to figure out the right solutions, the balance of saving infrastructure and giving way to nature. “We’ll be with them every step of the way to help them make those tough decision.”ĭays ago, the commission released the report “Critical Infrastructure at Risk: Sea Level Rise Planning Guidance for California’s Coastal Zone” aimed at providing local governments and other stakeholders with planning information as they make “challenging adaptation decisions.”

#Large pictures of ocean waves update#

“But also, we’re going give them straight-up money to hire the folks, or pay the folks for them, to update their plans, and we’re partners with them in this,” she said. Just last month, the state legislature approved $30 million over the next five years to provide assistance for local governments through a sea-level rise grant program to update planning tools, such as hazard, flood and geology maps, for their communities, she said. Many beaches are already experiencing what’s called a “coastal squeeze,” becoming more narrow as time goes by because high tides are getting even higher due to sea-level rise, Brownsey said. “Any conversation that happens, any decisions that are made are going to have consequences,” she said. In recent years, the Coastal Commission has cautioned against such measures because they can further exacerbate erosion on public beaches.īrownsey said the commission for the past five years has urged residents and local agencies to talk about design plans for today and the future, as sea levels continue to rise.

Protecting property with seawalls or rock boulders isn’t always an option. “I think that these homeowners are in a really difficult situation because it’s not going to get better, it’s only going to get worse,” Donne Brownsey, vice chair of the California Coastal Commission, said. Drone footage showed artificial turf torn up and patio sets jostled in oceanfront yards.

#Large pictures of ocean waves windows#

Many of the homeowners know to brace for the such events, which can happen several times a year, boarding up windows to keep the ocean outside of their homes. Are sand erosion and rising seas a concern for San Onofre’s ocean-front nuclear waste storage?.Millions in funding for Surfside-Sunset and San Clemente sand projects make it into federal request.OC Parks gives glimpse at short-term plans for Capo Beach.Ocean surge floods Aliso Beach hours before high tide.Photos: Big waves show at wild Wedge in Newport Beach.Up and down the coast, people’s yards and homes are pounded by the sea when the ocean shows its force as it did this week.