Sea, Tide Deliver a Coastline Knockout

An angry Pacific Ocean pounded the Orange County coast Monday for a second day, sweeping away huge chunks of beach, toppling seawalls and damaging two dozen plush seaside homes in hard-hit South Laguna.

Hundreds of other homes in low-lying coastal pockets from Capistrano Beach to Seal Beach were threatened shortly after dawn by high tides and surging surf that lured thousands to the shore to gawk at the powerful whitewater spectacle.

Reeling from the disastrous effects of Sunday’s fast-moving winter storm, Orange County officials declared a local state of emergency at 2 p.m. Monday, just as coastal residents and municipal crews scrambled to fill sand bags and shore up berms in advance of high tides again this morning.

Harriett M. Wieder, chairman of the Orange County Board of Supervisors, signed the emergency declaration, and the full board is expected to vote on the measure when it convenes today. The local proclamation is the first step toward a state or federal disaster declaration, which is necessary before emergency government funds are made available for storm repairs and cleanup.

Authorities estimated that the storm damage would run into the “millions,” but because the threat of ocean flooding is not over, most said it will be several days before the full impact of the storm is known.

Following Sunday’s blast of wind and driving rain, most Orange County residents awakened Monday to sunshine and postcard views of snowy mountains.

Battled the Tides

But those along the coast had no time to admire the view. A surging high tide at 7:52 a.m.--combined with 45-m.p.h. winds and 15- to 20-foot waves--turned streets and alleys in a half-dozen beach cities into rivers of water and sand, and forced closure of long stretches of Pacific Coast Highway between Laguna Beach and the Los Angeles County line.

Beachfront residents and business owners, many them armed with shovels and brooms, battled the tides side-by-side with city and county workers.

“It was wild,” recalled Alan Tonkins, who awakened Monday to see a huge metal trash container from the beach floating down 29th Street in Newport Beach. Tonkins, who lives right on the strand, added: “It’s four steps to my front door. The water reached the third step. I was breathing heavy.”

In Huntington Beach, daybreak revealed the power of the ocean’s punch as officials got the first real look at damage to the city pier. Waves crashing over the 20-foot-high pier Sunday night sucked the End Cafe into the sea and took a 300-foot bite out of the structure. Damage to the pier was pegged at about $5 million by city officials.

The raging surf also ripped pilings from the San Clemente Pier and forced closure of piers in Newport Beach and Seal Beach as a precaution, officials said.

Homes lining the jagged shoreline of South Laguna were hardest hit. In the Blue Lagoon area near Victoria Beach, at least 20 expensive seaside condominiums were damaged, including 12 that sustained a major battering, a county Fire Department spokeswoman said. Residents of the three-story units, which sell for an estimated $500,000, were evacuated Sunday night when waves toppled a protective seawall and smashed windows on the first floor of several homes.

Water and sand soaked carpets and carried furniture into a rear carport. Some residents returned to spend the night in upstairs rooms. At first light Monday, they were stunned by the destruction.

“I’ve never seen it like this,” said William Caldwell, a 23-year resident of the development. As he watched the waves batter his home, he said: “This is absolutely the biggest I’ve ever seen. . . . The boards they used to repair the seawall were tossed around like match sticks.”

Residents stared helplessly from a nearby bluff as the rising tide swamped their homes. A volleyball floated in the surf, and in one carport, wet sand glazed the blue upholstery of some maple furniture. Police said some pieces of the Huntington Beach Pier even banged against the homes.

“We’ve had some big (eight-by-four posts) from that pier coming through like bullets,” Laguna Beach Police Sgt. Don Barney said.

A block away on Lagunita Place, a large section of a million-dollar view home slid into the sea. Three others in the exclusive area also were damaged, officials said.

In downtown Laguna Beach, the tide poured over Main Beach and flooded Coast Highway, bringing rush-hour traffic to a standstill for nearly an hour. About 100 feet of the city’s boardwalk on Main Beach also collapsed.

At the famed Hotel Laguna, owner Claes Andersen watched as 12 feet of private beach washed away.

“There’s nothing you can do,” he said. “It’s Mother Nature at work.”

The storm’s destruction also was felt inland.

In Coto de Caza on Monday, Lori Demetre was still trying to explain what hit her $1.2-million home on Violeta Lane about 9:45 a.m. Sunday.

She was in the kitchen waiting for a break in the rain to run her dogs when she looked out and saw that a garage window had “exploded.” Then the patio furniture began “flying around,” and in a matter of seconds, she said, “the whole roof seemed like it had been sheered off.”

Neighbors said a tornado-like funnel cloud hopscotched through the exclusive ranch community, touching down on Demetre’s Spanish-tile roof.

“I never saw it, but I turned to the boys and said get down,” she recalled Monday. “It looks like a bomb hit.”

Tiles were strewn everywhere; some were embedded in trees and the side of the house. A pickup in the driveway was smashed. The pool was filled with debris. “There’s even beer bottles in there,” she said, “and we don’t drink.”

Demetre estimated that damage to the 5,000-square-foot home and adjoining guest house was at least $100,000.

Others in the neighborhood of one-acre lots lost stables and animal shelters.

“Judging by the hit-and-miss nature of damage, I’d say it was a small tornado,” said Demetre’s neighbor, Chuck Kriss, whose stable behind his house was destroyed.

Elsewhere in Orange County, the storm knocked out power for up to five hours for an estimated 46,000 Southern California Edison customers, many of them in north Orange County, where winds Sunday night gusted up to 55 m.p.h. Power was restored to all but a few by Monday, officials said.

On the coast, emergency crews spent most of Monday mopping up from the morning’s tidal assault and preparing for today’s 7.1 high tide, expected at 8:38 a.m. But after today, weather forecasters said the high surf and tides should begin to subside.

Bulldozers were busy in Seal Beach and Sunset Beach, building berms in front of homes. Coastal cities made sandbags available at no cost.

For some, the protective measures were a day late.

Pete Lowentrout, who lives near the Seal Beach Pier, spent Monday morning pumping about six inches of water from his living room. He had moved most of his valuables Sunday night and put his piano on blocks, before getting about two hours sleep.

“It’s a mess,” he said. But like many in the Seal-Sunset-Surfside beach areas, Lowentrout felt lucky.

In March, 1983, up to five feet of water flooded several hundred homes as the storm caused more than $70 million in damage countywide. During that storm, the water level, Lowentrout said, was “neck high” and knocked out a staircase. “I guess you’d have to say that we’re pretty lucky this time around,” he said.

Many coastal residents stayed home from work Monday to clear sand and mud left behind by receding tides.

“This morning, we were like prisoners,” said Sandra Rendick, her tennis shoes soaked as she stood in front of her Seal Beach home. “We were surrounded by water.”

In Newport Beach, city crews worked overtime to reopen the Newport Pier parking lot, closed when tides pushed over a seawall and lapped against the doors of pier-area businesses.

Dick Ottens, owner of the 12-room Portofino Beach Hotel near the pier, said it was the first time he had seen the lot flooded. His hotel escaped damage. Still, hotel employees were filling sandbags in preparation for this morning’s high tide.

“They are in the garage,” Ottens said. “I’m not taking any chances. We’ve worked awfully hard for this place.”

Times staff writers Mariann Hansen, Jerry Hicks and Nancy Wride contributed to this roundup.