Heavy surf and seven-foot tides are bound for Long Beach starting Sunday and lasting through Wednesday morning as a strengthened Hurricane Polo inches northwestward into Baja California and sends waves marching toward the California coast.
Polo, a tropical storm that upgraded Thursday night into a Category 5 hurricane, is far away, but it’s still expected to supercharge waves locally for the next few days, according to the National Hurricane Center’s advisory this week.
On Friday, the National Weather Service in Los Angeles announced a beach hazard warning about elevated surf and strong rip currents at beaches, including in Long Beach. Tides are expected to be 6 to 7 feet high with waves up to 5 feet high. During this time, forecasters are urging people to avoid swimming or surfing in the open water.
The statement includes Long Beach’s coastal neighborhoods as well as Catalina and Santa Barbara Islands. Especially around the late morning, high tides could swamp beach parking lots, bike paths and harbor walkways. The same statement also warned of moderate risk for coastal flooding on Monday and Tuesday.
Want to be prepared for this and other storms? We have an easy guide to free resources here.
Forecasters don’t expect conditions to be as severe as Hurricane Marie, which sent powerful waves slamming into the city’s Peninsula two weeks ago, battering the city boardwalk, ripping away a stretch of beachfront and threatening the foundations of more than a dozen beachside homes.
“But we’re kind of messaging to prepare for about Marie level,” said NWS forecaster Rose Schoenfeld. Forecasters have avoided issuing a high surf advisory, reserved for when waves are expected to be at least seven feet high.
The storm has city crews on high alert. Beach maintenance teams were busy Friday working to shore up beachside sand berms and get flood control systems in place before Polo’s arrival.
City crews, with help from the Conservation Corps, spent the week replacing damaged sections of the Peninsula boardwalk with plywood while engineers assess its wooden seawall, which was left battered and exposed after waves punctured holes and left some hinges twisted.
Hurricane Marie stripped away so much sand from a portion of the Peninsula that officials say there’s no beachfront left to build a protective sand berm between 62nd and 69th places.
Residents worried about potential flooding can pick up sandbags at the Claremont Beach Parking Lot (5400 E. Ocean Blvd.) Other storm tips are available here.
Read about Long Beach’s longer-term plan to protect the Peninsula here.