202007.05
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Higher, wider berm stops flooding in Newport Beach on Saturday night

by in News

An expanded berm prevented flooding in Newport Beach on Saturday night after Friday’s high-tide deluge, city officials said.

The berm, quickly assembled on Saturday, had sand piled “significantly higher and wider” than the one the waves wrecked the night before, said Newport Beach spokesman John Pope.

The towering waves turned streets in the Balboa Peninsula into lakes and muddy messes on Friday night.

On Sunday morning, the waves continued to put on a show and drew dozens to the Wedge.

“It’s spectacular to watch,” said Sarah Lazar, 40 of Tustin. “It doesn’t happen every day.”

Park patrol officers stood in front of the beaches, warning people that they could be fined as much as $300 for violating the closure that was extended until Monday. Lifeguards also drove around to discourage beach-goers and looky-loos from gathering.

  • Big waves and a high tide sent ocean water flooding into the streets in Newport Beach late Friday, July 3, creating a foamy mess on the Balboa Peninsula. (Photo courtesy of
    @surflick/ Brandon Yamawaki)

  • Big waves and a high tide sent ocean water flooding into the streets in Newport Beach late Friday, July 3, creating a foamy mess on the Balboa Peninsula. (Photo courtesy of
    @surflick/ Brandon Yamawaki)

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  • The view looking north from the Balboa Pier on Saturday morning, July 4, shows the wet, muddy mess left by overnight flooding. (Photo by Alicia Robinson/SCNG)

  • Big waves and a high tide sent ocean water flooding into the streets in Newport Beach late Friday, July 3, creating a foamy mess on the Balboa Peninsula. (Photo courtesy of
    @surflick/ Brandon Yamawaki)

  • Big waves and a high tide sent ocean water flooding into the streets in Newport Beach late Friday, July 3, creating a foamy mess on the Balboa Peninsula. (Photo courtesy of
    @surflick/ Brandon Yamawaki)

  • Big waves and a high tide sent ocean water flooding into the streets in Newport Beach late Friday, July 3, creating a foamy mess on the Balboa Peninsula. (Photo courtesy of
    @surflick/ Brandon Yamawaki)

  • Big waves and a high tide sent ocean water flooding into the streets in Newport Beach late Friday, July 3, creating a foamy mess on the Balboa Peninsula. (Photo courtesy of
    @surflick/ Brandon Yamawaki)

  • A 40-foot sailboat slammed onto shore on Friday evening, destroyed within minutes. Everyone on board made it to shore safely. (Photo courtesy of Mike Halphide/Newport Beach Marine Safety Department)

  • Big waves and a high tide sent ocean water flooding into the streets in Newport Beach late Friday, July 3, creating a foamy mess on the Balboa Peninsula. (Photo courtesy of
    @surflick/ Brandon Yamawaki)

  • Big waves and a high tide sent ocean water flooding into the streets in Newport Beach late Friday, July 3, creating a foamy mess on the Balboa Peninsula. (Photo courtesy of
    @surflick/ Brandon Yamawaki)

  • Ocean water created a river in the streets in Newport Beach on Friday, July 3, when big surf combined with high tide to cause flooding in the low-lying coastal area. (Photo courtesy of Diane Edmonds)

  • Ocean water created a river in the streets in Newport Beach on Friday, July 3, when big surf combined with high tide to cause flooding in the low-lying coastal area. (Photo courtesy of Diane Edmonds)

  • The dead end of Washington Street next to the Balboa Saloon was full of muddy foam Saturday, July 4, after water from the ocean side of the Balboa Peninsula flooded some streets. (Photo by Alicia Robinson/SCNG)

  • A 40-foot sailboat washed ashore in Newport Beach, slammed onto the sand by big waves. No one was transported to the hospital but the vessel was shattered into pieces. (Photos courtesy of Royce Hutain)

  • A 40-foot sailboat washed ashore in Newport Beach, slammed onto the sand by big waves. No one was transported to the hospital but the vessel was shattered into pieces. (Photos courtesy of Royce Hutain)

  • A 40-foot sailboat washed ashore in Newport Beach, slammed onto the sand by big waves. No one was transported to the hospital but the vessel was shattered into pieces. (Photos courtesy of Royce Hutain)

  • A 40-foot sailboat washed ashore in Newport Beach, slammed onto the sand by big waves. No one was transported to the hospital but the vessel was shattered into pieces. (Photos courtesy of Royce Hutain)

  • A 40-foot sailboat washed ashore in Newport Beach, slammed onto the sand by big waves. No one was transported to the hospital but the vessel was shattered into pieces. (Photos courtesy of Royce Hutain)

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The closures, put in place for the holiday weekend and similar to restrictions at most other Southern California beaches because of concerns about coronavirus, wound up giving workers the space to clean up and erect the berm.

Waves averaged between five to seven feet in height at most places in Newport Beach over the weekend. However, sets at the Wedge rose to between eight and 12 feet Friday evening, then ranged between 15 and 25 feet by high tide on Saturday night, Newport Beach Lifeguard Battalion Chief Brian O’Rourke said.

“It was one of the biggest  Wedge days we’ve had in about five or six years,” O’Rourke said.

Pope said Sunday morning he heard reports that the new sand wall held, preventing water from swamping homes, businesses and streets again.

“Knowing how the ocean behaved on Friday, the crew knew how high to make the berm,” Pope said. “We were pretty confident the new berm would hold, based on what we had seen before.”

He couldn’t immediately rattle off its measurements.

An expanded berm put up on Saturday did its job at high tide on Saturday night, Newport Beach city officials said Sunday morning. (Photo by Jeong Park, Orange County Register/SCNG)

On Sunday, Gary Boyles watched as workers pumped water out of the underground parking garage at his condo on the Balboa Peninsula a few yards from the shore.

Two to three pumps got water out since 1 a.m. Saturday, he said. Nearby were more than a dozen black bags full of scooped-up sludge.

“It was like a waterfall” into the garage Friday night, he said.

Boyles, 69, has lived in the area for 32 years. He recalled only two other times when the garage got flooded – once in 2012 and in 1999, when so much water poured in, the cars were floating.

This time wasn’t as bad as 21 years ago, Boyles said. He estimated about eight inches of water filled the garage on Friday night.

His red Honda Clarity – in a nearby ground-level parking lot – wasn’t seriously damaged. Still, as he surveyed the foamy mud left on his car, he didn’t mince words.

“So, this year sucks,” he concluded.

City lifeguard officials said a southern swell brought the unusually high-energy wave conditions, similar to those of a tsunami, with a continued surge that traveled further and further up the beach with each wave.

The city’s first priority Saturday was to build the barrier; now workers will move onto cleaning the debris and sand from the streets, which Pope said could take five to seven days.

“We will still be vigilant but the peak high tide was supposed to be last night,” he said on Sunday morning. “The concern is still there but it won’t be quite as much as yesterday.”

Pope said the beaches in Newport will reopen Monday at 6 a.m.

Staff writer Eric Licas contributed to this report.