LOS ANGELES (AP) — Southern California beach areas damaged by big surf a week ago built barriers Friday for a new round of hurricane-fed waves that could hit over the weekend.
The National Weather Service said surf was already building due to a separate Southern Hemisphere swell that could produce breakers up to 7 feet through Saturday.
On Sunday, larger surf will arrive from what is now Hurricane Norbert but which by then is expected to be a tropical storm as it moves northwest along Mexico’s Baja California peninsula, affecting the coastlines of San Diego, Orange, Los Angeles and Ventura counties through Monday.
Monsoonal moisture and remnants of Norbert are also expected to bring a chance of locally heavy rainfall and flash-flooding to parts of Southern California.
Bulldozers threw up sand berms and sand bags were made available for residents in Long Beach, where last week a 15-foot swell from Hurricane Marie smashed through breakwaters in three places and caused five near-breaches at the nation’s second-busiest seaport.
Depending on the severity of the new swell, “the breaches may grow,” Greg Fuderer, a spokesman for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, told the Long Beach Press-Telegram (http://bit.ly/1xmd8CC ).
The powerful surge shut down two Port of Long Beach cargo terminals for a day, caused some minor flooding to homes in nearby Seal Beach, knocked some pilings off the Malibu Pier and a lifeguard building along the Los Angeles County coast, and caused significant damage to a Santa Catalina Island boatyard.
Lifeguards made hundreds of rescues, but surfers rejoiced as 20-foot waves hit some south-facing beaches.
