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Waves demolished this beach and tore at Long Beach homes’ foundations. Why this storm was different
Residents gather on the boardwalk to see what's left after strong waves pounded the Long Beach peninsula on Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026.
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Thomas R. Cordova
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Long Beach Post
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This story first appeared on The LA Local.
A stretch of beach along Long Beach’s Peninsula is gone after a weekend of pounding waves eroded massive amounts of sand. The hurricane-driven swell left the area’s boardwalk in tatters and is threatening to undermine the foundations of more than a dozen oceanfront houses.
Homeowners and structural engineers were assessing the damage to about 20 residences, and crews were trying to rebuild defenses after a weekend of unforgiving waves pulled so much sand into the sea that, at low tide, there was a 15-foot drop from the boardwalk to exposed rocks below. The waves damaged the boardwalk’s already battered seawall and left dozens of homes exposed to future swells, which are expected to pummel Long Beach again on Tuesday evening.
Dennis Poulsen, who built his beachfront home on the Peninsula in 2005, said he has never seen the backside of the seawall. Now that it’s exposed, “it’s in far worse shape than I thought,” he said of the eroded wood. “It just has no muscle left to fight.”
Without the beach’s sand barrier and intact seawall, the ocean water can pour in beneath the boardwalk and attack the foundations of the ocean-facing homes, Poulsen said. Many houses are built atop shallow foundations that erode easily, as the waves drag sand back into the Pacific, compromising homes’ structural integrity, he said.
A man jumps onto a collapsed pathway and looks at the waves coming under the boardwalk after strong waves flooded the Long Beach peninsula on Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026.
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Thomas R. Cordova
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Long Beach Post
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Poulsen said his home was built on fine sand compacted to the point that it behaves like concrete, but all the Peninsula’s homes were built under the assumption that the beach and seawall would offer protection. Now, the barriers are compromised, inviting the ocean into the homes built to overlook it.
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Why were these waves so bad?
In this neighborhood, residents are used to guarding against strong tides and waves.
Heavy trucks commonly rumble up the shoreline to build a protective sand berm. City crews truck in the sand six days a week to replace what waves wash away, at the cost of about $1 million annually. Before storms, residents heap sandbags and tack up plywood, usually escaping major damage.
This time was different.
One resident called it a “perfect storm” — the result of a hurricane hundreds of miles away, warmer ocean temperatures and the convergence of high tide and high swell.
Hurricane Marie, originally a Category 2 storm that’s since been downgraded, gave the weather system most of its energy, said Marine Safety Chief Gonzalo Medina. Warm ocean temperatures, as hot as 80 degrees, caused the water to expand, resulting in greater volume and higher tide, Medina said. When combined with high swell, the Peninsula faced a “one-two punch” that produced large waves, as high as five feet, Medina said.
City workers salvage what’s left of the seawall as they prepare for the next round of strong waves along the boardwalk after waves pounded the Long Beach Peninsula on Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026.
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Thomas R. Cordova
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Long Beach Post
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High swells are expected again this evening, when high tide is predicted to crest over six feet, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Though Medina expects it to be smaller than over the weekend, he added that the weather system is dynamic and unpredictable. “We’re keeping our fingers crossed that it’s a lot less impactful than the last two nights,” he said.
Experts have warned that low-lying areas of Long Beach like this are especially vulnerable as climate change causes tides to reach further inland and exacerbates extreme weather.
Residents brace for more
Inspectors on Tuesday were still trying to assess damage between 63rd and 67th places, where waves can hit the Peninsula after passing through a gap in Long Beach’s breakwater system. Evacuation orders remained in effect, and the boardwalk was closed to foot traffic.
Residents remained uncertain about the immediate safety of their homes, let alone their long-term prognoses, and some returned to fortify their houses in the meantime.
One resident, Keith Holt, who moved into his oceanside home in 2015, said he was “just trying to save the house” as engineers drilled reinforcements into the seawall, all that stood between Holt and the ocean as waves pelted the walls and shot geysers of water into the air.
Long Beach firefighters survey the damage along the boardwalk after strong waves pounded the Long Beach peninsula on Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026.
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Thomas R. Cordova
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Long Beach Post
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Ashley Simpson, a neighbor, walked out to the boardwalk in her pajamas to gauge the situation. Two of her kids participated as junior lifeguards every summer, running miles on the now-submerged Peninsula beach. She added that it’s devastating to see that land gone, especially in a community as tightly knit as Long Beach.
The swallowed beach puts other homes in jeopardy, because the oceanside homes protect the bayside homes, Poulsen said, adding, “If this goes away, the Peninsula goes away.”
Jennifer Pieracci-Jensen, who lives on 67th Place, said she “hasn’t stopped moving” since her street flooded with several feet of water two nights ago. She combined a pump in her subterranean garage, sandbags and a water gate to try to keep the ocean and accompanying debris at bay, but it had overcome the defenses on her low-lying street.
Robbie Cox shovels out 2 feet of sand in front of a home along the boardwalk after strong waves pounded the Long Beach Peninsula on Sept. 8, 2026.
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Thomas R. Cordova
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Long Beach Post
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She has only spent a few years in the home, having purchased the duplex with her husband and family friends in 2023, yet she already knows that more battles are ahead. An exceptionally strong El Niño is headed to the region this year, and the coastal neighborhood will have to keep fighting rising sea levels.
“It’s not going to get any better,” she said.
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