Southern California faces near-record tides and heightened flood risk

High tides on Monday caused street flooding from Newport Beach to Long Beach as sea levels approached or surpassed historic marks. In Newport Beach, water overflowed from Newport Harbor onto the Balboa Peninsula, while Long Beach residents reported inundation along Bayshore Beach, Naples and the Peninsula.

City crews worked to pump out water, reinforce sandbags and protect vulnerable properties. Newport Beach spokesperson Georgia Rios said the community responded to the city’s advisories, noting that about 25,000 sandbags were placed over the weekend, which helped limit damage.

At the San Pedro tide gauge, water reached 8.02 feet, breaking the previous record of 7.93 feet set in 2005. In La Jolla, sea level measured 7.75 feet, close to the station’s record of 7.81 feet, and officials warned that higher tides later in the week could surpass that level.

The National Weather Service issued a coastal flood warning for Orange and San Diego counties through Thursday afternoon, indicating that low-lying homes, businesses and some infrastructure could be inundated and that shoreline erosion was likely. A coastal flood advisory was also in effect for Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, noting the possibility of isolated structural damage in the most vulnerable areas.

Scientists attributed the unusually high water levels to a combination of an active El Niño, a marine heat wave and a rare astronomical alignment that occurs roughly every 20 years. Ocean-surface temperatures off the coast have risen 1.25 to 1.8 feet above what tides alone would produce, with readings near 77 °F at Scripps Pier in early August, well above the seasonal average.

Researchers warned that similar extreme tides, known as “king tides,” are expected around the Thanksgiving, Christmas and Martin Luther King Jr. Day holidays, and that any storms coinciding with those events could exacerbate flooding risks.