Workers from Long Beach Marine Bureau’s Beach Maintenance Division have been working around the clock battling the sea that’s turned nasty in the latest in a series of storms drenching the city.

Tons of litter and flotsam from inland cities have come down the L.A. River leaving Long Beach with the mess. If it floats, it’ll end up in Long Beach.

On Thursday, a dozen 8- to 10-foot piles of trash gathered and piled by bulldozers and skip loaders were clumped up on the stretch of beach from Junipero Avenue to the Belmont Pier, and each was a veritable mass of things that people toss into rivers or gutters that lead to rivers.

What do you want? A busted fan? A single blue shoe? A cracked red bucket? A couch cushion? It’s all free for the taking: an old purse, a perfectly good snow shovel (snow shovels don’t get a lot of wear and tear along the L.A. river) and enough driftwood to keep a beachfront crafter in business for decades.

Trash and other debris pile up as street water runoff runs into the ocean off Ocean Boulevard in Long Beach Thursday. Photo by Thomas R Cordova.
Huge piles of trash gathered up along the beach in Long Beach Thursday. Photo by Thomas R Cordova.
Street water runoff flows into the ocean off Ocean Boulevard Thursday. Photo by Thomas R Cordova.

Tim Grobaty is a columnist and the Opinions Editor for the Long Beach Post. You can reach him at 562-714-2116, email [email protected], @grobaty on Twitter and Grobaty on Facebook.