El Niño-induced flooding hits Newport Beach. “Nature collects taxes”

Newport Beach resident Bill Sharp has lived on the Balboa Peninsula for 60 years and has seen flooding firsthand.

In past El Niño seasons, residents would swap their cars for canoes and paddleboards to navigate the peninsula after storms and high tides.

But this week’s record-breaking tides surprised even Sharp.

Water from Newport Harbor rushed over the seawall and into city streets, flooding homes and businesses.

With tides so high, the Balboa Island Ferry, which has shuttled cars between Balboa Island and the peninsula for more than 100 years, had to temporarily stop operating.

“It’s crazy. We’re somehow adding two feet of water to normal sea level,” Sharp said. “There are basically no buildings in the city that can handle eight-and-a-half-foot tides.”

Monday’s full moon combined with warmer-than-usual waters caused high tides to intensify in Southern California. Ocean temperatures are affected not only by man-made climate change but also by El Niño-induced Kelvin waves, which bring warm water from the equatorial Pacific to American coasts, and months-long marine heat waves that are not associated with El Niño.

Scientists say this marine heat wave caused ocean water levels to rise 1.25 to 1.8 feet higher than would have been the case simply due to the movement of the moon, Earth and sun.

Other coastal communities, including Redondo Beach, Huntington Beach and Long Beach, also experienced flooding, and officials said conditions could get worse as El Niño peaks this winter.

But Newport Beach has been hit particularly hard, forcing residents and city officials alike to rethink their relationship with the ocean. It became a battle, with the weapons being sandbags, water pumps, sand banks and drains. The tools have shown signs of success, but officials admit they are still subject to trends.

The topography of the Balboa Peninsula makes it susceptible to a range of problems during El Niño events.

“We have the beach on one side and the bay on the other side…we’re just sandwiched in the middle. Overall, it’s a beautiful thing,” Sharp said. “But Mother Nature comes and collects taxes every now and then.”

On Tuesday, Newport Beach’s expected high tide was 6.7 feet, rising to as high as 8.4 feet, the city’s highest ever. Tuesday’s high tide also broke another all-time record in San Pedro, which was broken the day before. A preliminary high tide of 8.19 feet was recorded at 9:48 a.m. Tuesday, flooding the International Boardwalk in Redondo Beach and Marine Stadium in Long Beach, the National Weather Service said.

For coastal communities, this could be the start of a long winter. Tides are expected to be higher during the Thanksgiving, Christmas and Martin Luther King Jr. Day holidays, which could result in more severe flooding if severe storms occur during these times.

Tuesday morning would be the perfect time to visit the Peninsula Recreation Area, if not for the drone of drones and the rumble of multiple water pumps and torrents of water seeping from sandbags and buildings. Sunny blue skies, warm weather (but not too hot), and colorful American kitsch keep the family entertained.

But the reality is that the city is at war, with four-foot-high sand walls and rows of sandbags blocking the ocean that is nonetheless determined to reach the sidewalks.

Hennk Wiessner, the owner of Fun Zone Boat, stood in flip-flops outside his office as water poured from the door of one of the company’s offices onto his feet and the paws of his 12-year-old Jack Russell terrier, Butters.

For Wiesner, 60, the floods are as much about livelihoods as they are about livability. The city’s seawall blocked his access to the dock, and he tried to figure out an alternative, whether it was a neighboring business or the city that would let him use their dock.

While he’s frustrated with the impact on his business, Wisner said he understands what needs to be done. One day ago, he was sitting in his office looking out at the exhibition hall when he suddenly saw a stream of water pouring down.

“Five minutes later, it was everywhere,” he said.

He knows it’s not the worst yet, with more record-breaking tides expected later this year.

Outside the recreation area, black sandbags were stacked along the peninsula’s extensive network of seawalls, giving them several inches of protection against rising tides. The sandbags are not waterproof, but they can help slow the flow so that the dozens of pump tubes deployed by the city can keep up with the overflow.

“Everything the city has prepared is working,” said Newport Beach City Councilman Joe Stapleton. “Any violations or failures we see are on commercial or private residential properties. Everyone has to do their part.”

Stapleton said the city has been trying to get a message out to residents ahead of high tide, asking them to strengthen their seawalls to protect not only their homes but those around them.

Officials have long known that the city’s historic seawall and bulkheads, built in the early to mid-1900s, were not high enough to withstand rising tides. The city has been upgrading sections of the seawall for years to reduce seawater overflow, but much of its port property remains threatened.

Mark Vukojevic, the city’s utility director, was dispatched to the famed “Pirate House” near Marcus and 35th streets Tuesday morning after hearing reports of flooded homes.

Vukojevic said the city sent volunteers knocking on people’s doors and asking them to build seawalls with whatever they had, including sandbags or lumber provided by the city. People living near water are the last and only line of defense against water infiltration.

For the most part, he said, the peninsula handled the high tides well. But there are exceptions.

Several houses not far from the Pirate House were decorated with pirate mannequins complete with parrots, swords and treasures, and this more ordinary house apparently failed to build a wall, allowing water to flow from the back porch into the street.

“I think people underestimate the power of rising tides,” Vukojevic said.

At the end of the Balboa Peninsula, tourists and locals gathered on a public pier to gape at the surreal sight of water lapping at the sidewalk, the likes of which they had never seen before.

“Sandbags work great,” 78-year-old Tim Hogan said to a friend passing him on the sidewalk.

Hogan said the waves were relatively calm and the water pouring into storm drains along the streets was far from flooding. But the 37-year-old Peninsula resident said he is worried about what will happen in the coming months.

Whether severe storms will occur this winter remains an open question.

Despite the uncertainty, Sharp said one thing is clear: “I can assure you, no one is going to move because of this, but we will have sandbags ready.”