Storm threat in coastal O.C. doesn’t keep visitors, surfers from Laguna Beach, Newport Beach
With Hurricane Hilary churning northbound from Baja, expected to weaken to a tropical storm and bring with it wind, rain and the possibility of flooding and power outages, curious residents and visitors to coastal Orange County cities were still witnessed out and about Sunday afternoon surveying the scene.
A barren Main Beach would be unheard of on a typical summer day in Laguna Beach, but with a steady rain falling upon the sand, passersby kept to the boardwalk.
Some who ventured out in the rain preceding Hilary’s arrival said they were there to observe the strength of Mother Nature while others looked to reap the benefits of potentially larger waves.
Dan Barabas, a New Jersey native, was visiting the area with family. He said the trip had been planned for a few months and they were dismayed to see some businesses buttoned up for the duration.
“We’re not going to let this little drizzle ruin our day,” Barabas said. “We’ve been kind of horrified by how closed everything is because this isn’t much of a storm so far.”
Barabas added they would keep out of the water during the storm, but they still wanted to appreciate nature.
Colored flags flown from the lifeguard tower at Main Beach let beachgoers know the conditions for those planning to go into the water. Marine safety officials were still flying a green flag in the early afternoon, signaling that the water conditions were safe. Asked if the water conditions had changed as the day progressed, Marine Safety Capt. Kai Bond said a yellow flag was flying from the tower at 3:20 p.m.
The city posted an update that heavy rainfall had begun at 3:05 p.m. and was expected to continue into the evening.
“We are telling the public to avoid roads and beaches,” Bond said in a text. “Moderate surf or currents are present. Caution should be exercised. The flag could change based on conditions.”
Earlier in the day, a lifeguard advised some waveriders to stop surfing at Bird Rock Beach, just north of Main Beach. At least half a dozen surfers waited for the chance to get up on their boards at the adjacent Rockpile Beach.
Laguna Beach resident Griffin Naess found himself among the wetsuit-wearing folks, and he made good on his final wave before heading back to the mainland.
“We were kind of excited because there hasn’t been very many waves for like months,” Naess said. “This whole summer, there hasn’t really been very big swell, and we were all kind of excited. Hopefully, it picks up in the next couple of days.”
In anticipation of Hilary’s arrival, city officials executed several precautionary measures, including the closure of the east and west parking lots at Aliso Beach.
“Public works and marine safety spent [Saturday] preparing,” Laguna Beach Mayor Bob Whalen said in a text answering questions about the city’s preparations for the storm. “The beach equipment has been secured. We are closing the ocean-side parking lot at Aliso, as it is prone to flooding. Downtown businesses have been asked to put their floodgates in place. Public works has been checking storm drains to make sure they are clear of debris.”
Art-A-Fair, the Festival of Arts, and the Sawdust Art Festival were closed on Sunday and would be closed Monday, the city announced. A Music in the Park performance featuring Wild Child was also postponed until Sunday, Aug. 27.
While foot traffic in the downtown Laguna Beach area was thinned out by the rain, some shops and restaurants remained open for business. The weather resulted in a Promenade that lacked its outdoor dining component, and combined with the closure of some nearby destinations, businesses saw fewer people walk through their doors.
Diana Luchetti, an employee at Art for the Soul, noted the storm had the impact of cutting into business.
“Absolutely. We expect people around,” Luchetti said. “We just have to deal with it. We’ve had terrible weather all year.”
Other establishments in town dared not tempt fate, including the Greeter’s Corner Restaurant, which had a handwritten note posted in the window stating the eatery would be closed for the day due to the storm. Various art galleries were shuttered. Other establishments left their floodgates up and sandbags outside their storefronts.
In Newport Beach, were it not for the blotted out sky or the endless rain, it would be hard to tell if this Sunday was different than any other.
Mist kissed the tires of cars ambling down the streets. Some residents donned raincoats or carried umbrellas as they walked their dogs past houses with sandbags piled in front of them. Others seemed to forego the thought of preparing for the rain, given the balmy 72 degrees and rising humidity, and jaunted around in their summer wear — sandals, tank tops and all.
A couple of the streets on the Balboa Peninsula were marked with signs from the city utilities department advising that flooding had taken place. One city truck sat idle near a few residential properties, perhaps positioned in case it was needed when the brunt of the storm arrived.
By late afternoon at Balboa Pier, part of the low-lying parking lot had been flooded. That didn’t stop people from frolicking through the water or a car from driving back and forth send the water flying.
Jason Crout, who had biked from his home on Balboa Island to survey the waves and the pier, said he came out because he was interested in the way that water looked in urban spaces that weren’t meant to handle that level of saturation.
“The quickest way around here is on a bike, so I figured I’d come out and check it out. I wanted to see if there would be any major waves. There kind of are, but I think [lifeguards] are keeping people from swimming,” Crout said.
“The street I live on is one of the ones that are higher up on the island, toward the northerly side of it,” he continued. “[My family] personally haven’t been too worried, but it’s interesting biking around because ... the storm drains on the ends of each of the streets on the island are connected directly to [Newport] Bay. So, a lot of the ends of the streets are getting flooded, right? So, if it’s worse and if it rains for long enough and the bay starts filling up, then it could become more of an issue for the island as a whole.”
Despite the possibility of damage, Crout said he wasn’t too worried about the tropical storm just yet.
Costa Mesa resident Michelle Sieloff also came out to observe the waves from the top of the Balboa Pier berm. She said she had also come out on Friday as sand was getting packed in.
Sieloff said she knew the rain was going to pick up and noted maybe she shouldn’t have even been out by the water because of the potential for lightning storms.
“We went major shopping [on Saturday],” Sieloff said. “Got tons of water, got tons of sandbags. We live upstairs, but our window doesn’t shut right. It’s backwards. So, we put [sandbags] there just in case the rain would get into the house. We gave some to our neighbors too because they live downstairs, so that the water won’t go in their house. The rain and the waves — that’s what I’m worried about. I wanted to see how the [waves] were because of the rain, because I’ve seen it worse and they’ve hit houses before a long time ago.”
Near the Balboa Pier, no swimmers or surfers were in the water Sunday afternoon.
Observing from a lifeguard tower near the Balboa Pier, lifeguard captain Andy White said that there hadn’t been many casual beachgoers except those trying to see what the ocean looked like during storm conditions.
Early predictions from the National Weather Service station in San Diego had estimated waves of 8 to 10 feet through the course of the storm, and a surf advisory had been issued for the waters north of Newport Harbor.
White said surfers and body surfers had mostly gone toward the Wedge and the point of the Balboa Peninsula.
“As far as standard beachgoers that get in the water and swim, we haven’t really seen anybody at all. Only just expert-level surfers,” White said.
While state and county beaches have been shut down, including nearby Crystal Cove State Park, the same wasn’t yet true for Newport’s city beaches, but given the unpredictability of the storm, they would continue monitoring the situation as Hilary headed north.
The Balboa Island Ferry trekked on, carrying cars and bikers across the water back to the island. Balboa Island Ferry operations manager Nate Capra said the ferry saw more car traffic Sunday than it did people on foot, and overall it was seeing less business than normal for a Sunday afternoon in the middle of summer.
Capra said operators didn’t plan to close the ferry any earlier than normal, though the business recently implemented a system on its Instagram to let people know whether or not the ferry was expected to close. As of late Sunday afternoon the warning level was at yellow — the lowest possible tier, meaning that it would remain open. Orange indicates ferry operators are considering a closure, while red means it is closed.
“So far, all of the forecasts that we’ve seen don’t show any signs that we would need to close,” Capra said. “We really care about the safety of our passengers and of our crew. We have a lot of faith in our captains and communicate with them and trust their judgment as conditions change. We want to make sure they know we have their backs and be there if a decision needs to be made.
“Right now, our focus is the ferry’s ability to get in and out of the slip safely. In my communication with my assistant manager, it seems like a normal stormy day right now. The wind is very manageable. It’s very wet, but we have a great team. Part of the job is knowing that you’ll have to work in the rain, and everyone’s been a great sport about it. We’re expecting the worst to come this evening, but we’re going to continue monitoring and communicating with everybody.”
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