L.A. County closed several restrooms and road access at Point Dume Beach after high tides and surf caused “extreme erosion,” according to the Department of Beaches and Harbors.
In a social media post Saturday, the department said the overnight erosion had left the bluff edge unstable, with “drop-offs of up to 8 feet” in some areas. In response, the County closed Westward Beach Road past the pay gate and the 373-spot parking lot for the beach.
The roughly 0.4-mile road provides the only vehicle access for the beach, which is surrounded by rugged coastal terrain and sits next to Point Dume, a rocky headland that juts into the Pacific to form the northern tip of the Santa Monica Bay.
On Friday, the department closed several restrooms after the rough ocean damaged the water line and meter serving them. In response, temporary chemical toilets and hand-washing stations were installed, the department said.
The department urged beachgoers not to cross safety cones, caution tape or barriers for their safety. It provided no estimate when the restrooms, road or parking lot would reopen but noted that the county was “assessing the damage” and would provide updates as information became available.
The National Weather Service has repeatedly warned of dangerous rip currents and elevated surf in recent weeks as multiple southerly swells battered the coastlines of Los Angeles and Ventura counties. The intense conditions have prompted thousands of lifeguard rescues along the coast.
Hurricane Genevieve, which was downgraded from a Category Five hurricane to a tropical storm on Thursday night, has brought rough waters and larger-than-normal waves to California’s southern coast. The high surf has forced the cancellation of two Pacific Surfliner trains, which runs from San Luis Obispo to San Diego.
Genevieve is currently over the Pacific Ocean southwest of Los Angeles and poses no direct threat to land.
In Long Beach, officials prepared for rising tides and tall waves by building a giant wall of sand along the shoreline late last week. Video captures waves crashing into the sand wall, forcing workers to continuously rebuild.
A stretch of beachfront homes between 62nd and 69th Place in Long Beach are especially vulnerable, according to Marine Safety Chief Gonzalo Medina.
California State Parks warned beachgoers to be wary of seemingly calm waters and rip currents, which can occur at any beach with breaking waves and create a forceful stream out to sea. Swimmers caught in a rip current should swim parallel to shore instead of attempting to move directly against the current, which can lead to exhaustion and drowning.
Further north, multiple lifeguards performed a dramatic water rescue in Santa Cruz last week as relentless waves slammed down near the shore.
“This swimmer was extremely lucky that there were so many trained lifeguards on duty,” one user wrote on Reddit in response to a video of the incident.
Frequent high tides are also linked to El Niño conditions, during which warmer waters along the equatorial Pacific can cause extreme weather and torrential downpours. A “super El Niño” is expected to develop in the Pacific later this summer and could be one of the strongest on record, experts warned.
In April, an outlook released by the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts indicated that sea surface temperatures could exceed the seasonal average by 2 degrees Celsius. A subsequent forecast by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration puts the odds of that happening by late fall at 1 in 4.
