Overnight and into Thursday morning, Tropical Storm Rachel sent huge swells into Long Beach. Strong waves then slammed into the coast on Thursday morning.
By Friday, powerful waves from former Hurricane Rachel had torn apart sections of the Long Beach Peninsula boardwalk. Chunks of the shattered structure were seen floating out to sea from a helicopter as high tide arrived shortly after 9am Friday morning.
One home was left on the verge of collapsing into the ocean. Floodwaters swamped nearby streets and patios as erosion continued to undermine beachfront homes.
“This is easily the most damage I have seen over the past couple of weeks,” KTLA’s Rich Prickett said.
The coastal damage has come as Rachel changes course. The storm briefly became a Category 3 hurricane earlier this week before taking a sharp turn towards Southern California. The National Hurricane Center said Rachel is currently a Category 1 storm, about 405 miles from the tip of Baja California, with wind gusts of 85 mph.
Forecasts have also described former Hurricane Rachel as downgraded to a tropical storm. It is likely to be approaching the coast as a tropical storm, and is forecast to arrive early Sunday as a weaker, post-tropical storm.
The current forecast puts Rachel coming ashore about 100 miles south of San Diego, though its track could move as far north as Orange County. Rachel is expected to turn back towards Mexico between Friday and Saturday as it weakens.
San Diego has been placed under a Tropical Storm Watch for only the second time in its history as Rachel threatens a rare Southern California landfall. The National Hurricane Center’s only previous Tropical Storm Watch for Southern California came before Hurricane Hilary in 2023, when heavy rain and flooding hit the California desert and other parts of the Southwest.
The FOX Forecast Center said threatened areas could receive 2 to 3 inches of rain. A level 2 out of 4 flash flood threat stretches across a large part of the Southwest, from Southern California to Utah, including Phoenix and Las Vegas.
Rachel could still send large swells towards Southern California beaches later this week. Its rain is expected to ease the sweltering heat that has affected Southern California all week.
Rachel is the eighth major hurricane this season in the Pacific.
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