Rain Is on the Way and Surf ‘s Still Up -- as Is the Anxiety

Moderate rain by afternoon and continuing heavy surf are expected today in Orange County.

No damage was reported Sunday from high tides and heavy surf, as hard-hit residents in communities that suffered nature’s fury Friday enjoyed a second day of respite.

“The swell is enormous today, but we don’t have the very high tide, so we are OK,” said Tony Louch, who manages Capistrano Shores, a seaside community of 90 homes in San Clemente that saw 32 homes damaged Friday. “The waves are still coming over the top of the sea wall quite forcibly but not creating the damage that happened Friday.”

However, residents of seaside areas remained concerned about a repeat late in the week, with indications of increasingly high tides by the weekend, Louch said.

Commuters won’t have to wait until late in the week for drama with rainfall virtually certain for today’s homeward-bound drive.

“There could be some light rain in the morning, but the chance for substantial rain increases throughout the day,” said forecaster John Sherwin with WeatherData Inc., which provides information to The Times. “There will be periods of moderate rain” by evening.

Heavy surf advisories will continue Tuesday, the National Weather Service said.

The high coastal swells are generated by a triple threat: last week’s storms that built up the seas, the current wind and weather that continue to drive them, and the high tides, Sherwin said.

“Waves will probably increase along the coast during the day on Monday,” he said.

Though surf and crowds were substantial at Seal Beach, the city’s sand berm was not breached by the tide, which crested about noon on Sunday.

“We were looking at 6- to 10-foot waves,” lifeguard Jeff Martinek said. “We had big crowds everywhere but no water over the berm.”

The high surf, however, contributed to an increase in the number of stranded sea mammals. Friends of the Sea Lion in Laguna Beach was treating about 70 sea lions and seals Sunday, including 14 washed ashore in the past three days, said Michele Hunter, senior animal care supervisor. Most of the animals are sea lion pups, she said.

“They are undernourished and tired, so tired of fighting currents and surf that they are coming up on the beach,” she said. “We just got an animal that was crossing PCH in Newport Beach.”

The animals, especially the sea lion pups, are underweight because El Nino changes in water conditions have made scarce the cold-water fish they normally eat, she said.

Sea mammals are being rescued all along the coast, she said, with care centers in San Pedro and San Diego all rescuing bewildered, emaciated animals. The heavy surf has also taken a toll on the coastline. Doheny State Beach suffered significant damage Friday at its southern end, with large gaps of beach sucked out to sea by the surf and debris strewn across the road and parking lot.

The waves last week crashed ashore onto the south parking lot, which was covered in many places with a quarter-inch layer of sand. In some spots, the beach was eroded beginning about 10 feet seaward of the parking lot. Damage stretched for almost a mile along the beach that normally is 50 yards wide.

“The south end of the park is definitely a mess with sand and even lobster traps tossed onto the parking lot and roadway,” Ranger Lynn Holland said. “The roadway is covered with sand. It is a royal mess.”

Holland said though the damage is dramatic, southern swells in the spring will redeposit sand.

“Traditionally in a large winter storm, you get sand movement out, especially in conjunction with heavy surf and a storm,” she said. “It may not get fully replaced in the spring. I can’t honestly say if we will get it all back, but we will get a lot of it back.”