As Hurricane Polo bears down on Southern California, some residents in storm-battered Long Beach are either boarding up their homes or preparing to leave.
Beachfront residents are still cleaning up from the brutal pounding they took from Hurricane Marie over Labor Day weekend as the newest storm threatens to unleash even more damage.
Meteorologists say monster waves could collide with high tides on Monday and Tuesday, forcing city officials to declare an emergency.
The National Weather Service is also forecasting elevated surf and powerful rip currents along Southern California beaches beginning this weekend and stretching into next week, as several southerly swells roll toward the coast.
Along Long Beach Peninsula — where Marie’s towering waves flooded homes, destroyed cars and smashed the boardwalk — one resident said he’s preparing to leave.
“I don’t think this house is gonna make it. We’ve got a sinkhole underneath where the sand used to be,” said Shawn Jeffery, who’s lived in his rental apartment on the Peninsula for nine years. “I’m going to put my stuff in the garage before this weekend, so I’m ready to go.”
The beach in front of his home lost nine feet of sand during Marie, leading to the collapse of his building’s foundation and washing away steps from his deck.
He boarded up his windows so the crashing waves predicted from Polo don’t break his windows.
“The city’s not helping,” he fumed. “We’re doing everything ourselves.”
Jeffery’s neighbors said this year’s storms are the worst they’ve ever endured — and they’re worried about what’s going to come.
“We’ve never seen a monster like this,” said Julio Zamarripa, a retired pilot who lives steps away from the shore. “If you have a home facing the ocean, it’s lethal.”
Zamarripa, whose home was spared during Marie, said authorities need to replenish the sand on the beach immediately to prevent more damage to the neighborhood.
“What are they waiting for? It’ll be too late when the next storm comes,” he said.
Rose Schoenfeld, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Los Angeles/Oxnard office, said Hurricane Polo is very likely to impact the Long Beach area, with high surf causing coastal flooding on south-facing beaches.
“It looks like high tides will peak Monday through Wednesday at around 7 feet,” she said, adding that 5 feet is average for the area.
“If your area was vulnerable to Marie, then it’s likely to be up to that level again.”
Local resident Christine Nakov said people in the neighborhood ran out of essential supplies during the last storm and she’s worried it will happen again.
“People were using golf carts and trucks to try and move the sand around. It was terrible,” she said. “No one knows what they’re doing.”
Paula Attina said she and her husband were forced by police to evacuate their home by during Marie, and she’s terrified of what could come in the days ahead and later in the El Niño season.
“The house shook like an earthquake, and we could see the waves crashing from our third-story window,” she said. “When the boardwalk exploded, it felt like I might be lifted into the air.”
On Tuesday, the Long Beach City Council ratified City Manager Tom Modica’s emergency declaration allowing city crews more flexibility to fortify the city’s beautiful beaches.
But Attina said authorities’ efforts to create sand berms in front of homes on the peninsula are insufficient to protect homes from the expected storms coming this year.
“What they’re doing right now is just a Band-Aid,” she said. “They need to renew the sand and install permanent fix.”
