OC beach cities could be seeing sand shipments along the county’s shrinking coastline wrapping up in June next year, coming well after the expected end of the current super El Niño system.
This season’s historically strong El Niño system is expected to end in March, according to the National Weather Service.
The NWS is predicting a historic El Niño season this year, with the highest chances of a historical weather event coming sometime between October and December, bringing high tides, rain and localized flooding to Southern California.
This means that the sand placement will likely come too little too late for many coastal residents, some of whose homes are already being battered by high tides ushered in by tropical storms in the Pacific.
The beginning of the season has already brought on bouts of surface flooding, beach erosion and damaged seafront properties, with the Balboa Peninsula and parts of Laguna Beach flooding Friday as tropical storm Rachel brought unusually high tides hit the coast.
OCTA’s board of directors voted Monday to reaffirm an emergency declaration made last month, which allowed sand and boulders to be placed quickly without waiting on the lengthy contractor bidding process.
The move is expected to bring a total of 690,000 cubic yards of sand along the southern OC coast, with 240,000 cubic yards between North Beach and Mariposa Point, and 450,000 cubic yards at San Clemente State Beach, according to an agency report.
According to a staff report from last month, the emergency action was intended to protect the coastal rail line and beaches ahead of “high-wave and winter storm events fueled by forecasted El Niño.”
However, in Monday’s presentation, there was no mention of El Niño, and timelines of the projects aimed to protect the shoreline will likely begin in February 2027 and wrap up in June 2027, well after the super El Niño season has passed.
“Your report calls for protection before El Niño winter storms, yet your schedule starts well into winter, after and during the prime storm season,” said John Dow, a member of Save Our Beaches, an organization in San Clemente that advocates for coastline restoration, at the OCTA Board meeting Monday.
“OCTA cannot use its failure to deliver sand as justification for further beach destruction.”
Additionally, all work beginning is subject to permits and the proper dredging equipment being acquired – a task that could be easier said than done.
“There are few U.S.-qualified hopper dredges capable of performing this work, and many are committed to projects months in advance,” wrote OCTA spokesperson Eric Carpenter in an email to the Voice of OC on Sept. 29.
“The emergency declaration does not eliminate environmental review or permitting requirements, so the schedule will also depend on obtaining the necessary regulatory approvals.”
According to OCTA Board Member and OC Supervisor Vice Chair Katrina Foley at Monday’s meeting, the agency is currently working to get a dredger in from Oregon, but there is no timeline for the move.
Additionally, an “engineered shoreline protection structure” is slated to be completed in February 2028, with a start date of February 2027, however, there are no details yet on what this structure could look like, according to Carpenter’s email late last month.
Monday’s 14-4 vote didn’t nearly happen because the number of required board members weren’t initially present, but the required amount of board members was later met.
The agency’s action comes as storms have already begun battering the coast, despite the El Niño just beginning.
This past Friday, Newport Beach declared a state of emergency and closed the pier indefinitely after high tides led to surface flooding along the Balboa Peninsula.
Over Labor Day weekend, storms rolling in led to several coastal cities declaring states of emergency, with a handful of homes being red-tagged.
Following the storms, the San Clemente rail line was closed for more than a week after waves overtopped the tracks, causing damage to the line. To repair it, OCTA placed large boulders known as riprap to stabilize the line.
However, riprap is known to speed up erosion – a problem that San Clemente is already facing with their coastline.
