SEAL BEACH : City Studies Ways to End Coastal Flooding

Chi Kredell, who has called the city’s coast home for 47 years, figured out long ago that heavy rains usually produce minor flooding in front of his house on the beach.

This month, he and other residents asked the city to look at ways of preventing the flooding--and Kredell, 60, has a few ideas of his own.

Citing an engineering report completed for the city several years ago, Kredell said the solution might lie in having bulldozers loosen the sand north of the Seal Beach Pier. And city officials said he might have a point.

With most heavy downpours, rain runoff flows from the pier parking lot and nearby alleys into the concrete walkway that divides the beach from Ocean Avenue homes.

The water is supposed to be absorbed by the sand. But oil and mud carried to the beach along with the runoff make the sand less able to absorb large amounts of water, Kredell said.

As a result, the rainwater collects in front of homes on Ocean Avenue, sometimes causing flooding. Damage from such floods is usually minor, but Kredell said he lost a washer and dryer a decade ago when an especially strong storm flooded his garage.

The engineering report--prepared several years ago by an independent consulting firm--suggested that the beach would absorb more rain runoff if the city used a bulldozer equipped with three-foot steel claws to dig up the sand.

The process is known as “scarification” and is designed to loosen the sand, allowing the grains to spread apart and absorb more water. The city might also consider adding larger-grained sand to the beach, Kredell said. The bigger grains absorb more water, he added.

Kredell discussed the issue at last week’s City Council meeting. His suggestions were warmly received by city officials, who have vowed to examine their feasibility.

The focus comes as city officials plan a major sand replenishment project on a different beach south of the pier. The plan to dump up to 150,000 cubic yards of Santa Ana River sand on the eroded beach received California Coastal Commission approval last week. The proposal, which will cost the city about $500,000, still needs the approval of the Army Corps of Engineers.