Tropical Storm Rachel Tears Through Long Beach, Prompting Evacuations and Red‑Tag Orders

Long Beach woke up to a scene that felt more like a movie set than a typical October Saturday. Waves the size of small trucks rolled onto the Alamitos Peninsula, slamming into homes, a beloved boardwalk and the sand berms that had been painstakingly rebuilt after earlier floods.

Mayor Rex Richardson, standing amid the chaos, could barely hide his disbelief. “These kinds of impacts are not normal,” he told reporters, his voice echoing over the roar of surf. “It’s unprecedented for our community.” He added that city crews, volunteers and hundreds of workers have been on their feet day and night, trying to stem the damage that keeps pounding the city’s front door.

The National Weather Service sounded the alarm on Saturday, warning that coastal flooding would linger through Sunday, especially during the morning high tide. Forecasts pointed to water levels cresting around eight feet—high enough to breach low‑lying streets and threaten any structure within reach of the sea.

In response, the city slapped red tags on eight homes deemed structurally unsafe and gave a yellow tag to another that needs urgent repairs. Those red‑tagged properties sit in the 6400 and 6500 blocks of Seaside Walk, a stretch already battered by the storm. An evacuation order now covers those blocks, and officials say the zone could expand if conditions worsen.

To keep the worst of the water at bay, Long Beach handed out more than 7,600 sandbags to residents, bringing the total distributed over the last three storms to roughly 15,000. Volunteers stacked the bags along vulnerable sections of the bulkhead, hoping the sand will buy a little extra time for crews to reinforce failing walls.

Vehicle access to the peninsula has been restricted to residents only. “We’ve closed off vehicular access to the Peninsula for residents,” Richardson explained. “We’re encouraging everyone else to avoid the Peninsula all weekend so our city crews can work safely and efficiently.”

The damage isn’t just limited to homes. The iconic boardwalk, a popular spot for joggers and families, was splashed with seawater, its wooden planks slick and unsafe. Nearby sand berms, which were meant to act as a buffer, were washed away, exposing the shoreline to even more direct wave action.

Long Beach isn’t alone in facing Rachel’s wrath. Nearby Newport Beach reported similar flooding, and meteorologists highlighted that south‑facing beaches—Long Beach and Malibu—are the most vulnerable to the anticipated surge.

For many residents, this is the third major storm to hit the region in six weeks, following Hurricanes Marie and Polo earlier in the season. “Just in this season, this marks the third hurricane in just six weeks,” Richardson said, underscoring the strain on both infrastructure and community morale.

As the storm’s eye passes, the city remains on high alert. Crews continue to monitor the bulkhead’s stability, sandbag vulnerable zones, and stand ready to adjust evacuation boundaries if the tide climbs higher than expected. In the meantime, locals are hunkering down, watching the relentless surf and hoping the worst will pass before nightfall.