SEAL BEACH : City Negotiating to Bring Sand to Beach

City officials don’t expect a repeat of the minor flooding that affected more than a dozen beachfront homes over the weekend.

Waves as high as 10 feet pounded the coast late Friday night.

Damage to homes along Seal Way was limited mostly to flooded garages and saturated lawns.

The homes stand at a narrow beach that the city hopes to widen with up to 150,000 cubic yards of sand from the Santa Ana River.

The beach runs between the Seal Beach Pier and Anaheim Bay and has been eroding for decades. Residents fear the homes may one day face a serious threat from the ocean if sand is not replenished.

Each winter, the city builds an 18-foot-high sand berm in front of the homes to prevent high tides from causing damage. It was removed a few weeks ago.

“Generally, these high tides don’t occur at this time of the season,” said Lee Whittenberg, the city’s planning director. “In talking with the lifeguards, this was a pretty unusual occurrence.”

City officials this week were negotiating a $500,000 deal to bring Santa Ana River sand to Seal Beach. It would come from a river flood control project, Whittenberg said.

If all goes as planned, the river sand will begin arriving at the beach later this month.

The City Council is scheduled to discuss the sand replenishment project at its Monday meeting.