What arrived on California's shores on October 9 was, on paper, a tropical storm. What it delivered was a verdict: the state's coastal infrastructure, pounded by two prior storms in the span of five weeks, was not ready for what is still coming. Tropical Storm Rachel — which had peaked as a Category 1 hurricane before weakening over the Pacific — pushed powerful swells through the wooden bulkhead shielding Long Beach's Alamitos Peninsula, destroying sections of the historic boardwalk, cracking home foundations, and forcing the city to deem at least 13 residences unsafe to occupy by October 11.
A Peninsula Already On Its Last Defense
The Long Beach Peninsula was not a fresh target. Hurricane Marie had struck the same stretch over Labor Day weekend, evacuating roughly 20 homes and destroying sections of the boardwalk. Hurricane Polo followed in late September, adding further stress to a seawall already partially exposed. By the time Rachel's swells arrived, the bulkhead along Seaside Walk was operating at reduced capacity.
Building inspectors surveyed the 6400 and 6500 blocks of Seaside Walk on October 9 and issued red tags — meaning too dangerous to enter — on two structures, while three others remained yellow-tagged from Marie's prior damage. That brought the initial count to five. By Sunday evening, as surf from Rachel's peak swell hit the Peninsula, KTLA reported the number had grown to at least 13 residences deemed unsafe, with some described as on the verge of structural collapse. City officials deployed roughly 1,000 sandbags, placed large sandbags at the base of the seawall, and conducted emergency repairs to the bulkhead during brief breaks in the surf.
City spokesperson Laath Martin confirmed that engineers were still evaluating the full scope of damage to the boardwalk and seawall infrastructure. Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson praised emergency crews and urged residents to "be prepared and follow City guidance."
Emergency Declarations: Long Beach to Newport Beach
Long Beach had already issued a local emergency proclamation in September — concurrent with Governor Gavin Newsom's statewide El Niño emergency declared September 21 — granting City Manager Tom Modica authority to activate emergency contracts and mobilize resources throughout the winter storm season. That framework was fully in use as Rachel struck.
Newport Beach told a parallel story. Flooding that began Thursday night, October 8, sent ocean water surging across the Balboa Peninsula before Rachel had even reached its peak intensity. City Utilities Director Mark Vukojevic estimated flooding stretched across roughly 15 to 20 blocks — with vehicles partially submerged and residents wading through knee-deep seawater on main thoroughfares including Balboa Boulevard. City Manager Seimone Jurjis declared a local emergency Friday, activating crews to rebuild beach berms, open tide valves, and run pumps around the clock.
What Gave Rachel Its Punch: El Niño and a Kelvin Wave
Rachel did not act alone. High tides reached 7 to 7.5 feet over the weekend — between 1 and 1.5 feet above normal astronomical predictions — driven in part by a Kelvin wave, a slow-moving pulse of warm Pacific water that forms when El Niño weakens the equatorial trade winds and pushes elevated ocean levels northward along the West Coast. National Weather Service meteorologist Carol Ciliberti of the Los Angeles office noted that Rachel's south swell, combined with elevated tides and strong onshore winds, created compounding coastal hazards that peaked Sunday morning, with wave sets reaching up to 9 feet along south-facing beaches before gradually subsiding early in the week.
The broader El Niño context matters enormously. NOAA's Climate Prediction Center has placed the probability of a very strong El Niño event at greater than 90 percent through fall and winter 2026–27, with scientists warning that elevated Pacific sea levels — already running significantly above average — will continue to transform manageable coastal surf into conditions capable of overtopping engineered seawalls. A Kelvin wave that arrived along the California coast in October added an estimated additional foot to baseline sea levels on top of El Niño's existing effect, as scientists at KGO-TV reported ahead of the storm.
Coastal flood warnings remained active for stretches from San Diego up through the San Francisco Bay Area through the weekend, and rockslides triggered by Rachel's rainfall temporarily closed roads as the storm moved inland.
Inland: Desert Southwest Under Threat
As Rachel tracked into the Baja California peninsula and beyond, its moisture spread across the Desert Southwest. Forecasters at NWS Phoenix warned of 1 to 3 inches of rainfall for portions of Gila, Yavapai, and Coconino counties in Arizona. The Coachella Valley was forecast to receive up to roughly a third of an inch — modest in isolation but a flash-flood risk in desert terrain where the soil cannot rapidly absorb intense precipitation bursts. Wind gusts of 45 to 65 mph were forecast across parts of the Desert Southwest, with a separate level-2 flash flood threat issued for areas as far east as Las Vegas and Phoenix, per Fox Weather.
A Dress Rehearsal for Something Worse
Forecasters are not framing Rachel as an anomaly. Its coastal flooding and structural damage represent, in their own words, a preview of what California is likely to face as El Niño deepens through the winter. Malibu Mayor Bruce Silverstein, whose city declared a citywide local emergency on September 28 citing the threat of flooding, mudslides, debris flows, and coastal erosion, had already acknowledged as much: "El Niño's impacts are already being felt," he said.
Long Beach's Alamitos Peninsula has now absorbed three major storm events in five weeks. It carries at least 13 damaged or condemned structures, a dismantled boardwalk, and a breached bulkhead. It has run that experiment three times — and the peak of California's storm season has not yet arrived.
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