It’s been a busy couple of weeks for lifeguards in Del Mar. First there was high surf and heavy rain which led to beach closures and flooding, and now king tides.
Jon Edelbrock is director of community services for the City of Del Mar. “We’re watching the weather patterns, we’re watching the surf forecast that type of thing,” he told KPBS News. “In some of the areas, we do have the barricades up, so that limits the coastal flooding and intrusion back onto the streets, protects some of the homes, that type of thing.”
The recent heavy rain and high surf has washed away large amounts of sand, leaving less of a buffer between the waves and people’s homes. Local residents are now placing sandbags outside to protect their houses from flooding.
Chad Hendrick is renovating a beachside property and had a near miss last Friday, when a huge wave breached the seawall.
“It obviously came up over the wall, completely destroyed the seawall here, broke off a big chunk of our seawall, knocked a glass panel out, had a little bit in the house, but we actually survived pretty well compared to some of the other houses in the area," he said.
Anyone planning a stroll along the beach early Saturday, may want to reconsider, according to Edelbrock.
“We’re going to have very little beach in the mornings during this cycle,” he said. “Obviously, it couples in with the surf size, the surf intervals, onshore winds and what’s happening from our river valleys and how much water we’re getting from the east as well, is going to determine how accessible and how much recreation capabilities are available on each public beach."
The king tides are also expected to impact local marshes. According to The San Diego Audubon, the entirety of the Kendall-Frost Marsh basin will be filled with seawater as a result of the phenomenon. A viewing event will be held at the Kendall-Frost Marsh Reserve between 7:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. with high tide predicted at 8:06 a.m.
