El Niño erosion is chewing up Calif.’s famous Pacific Coast Highway

After a summer of strong waves and lost sand, Southern California’s famous beach communities thought there might be hope for at least a temporary fall reprieve before the winter storms arrive. But that hasn’t been the case.

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High, strong surf — a mix of warm ocean waters from a rapidly growing El Niño system, an underwater Kelvin wave and the remnants of Hurricane Rachel — have continued to chew up coastline recently, even knocking out or endangering some very important stretches of road. In Laguna Beach, a section of the right southbound lane of the iconic Pacific Coast Highway has been taken offline by Caltrans after a large crack was discovered along the cliffside next to the roadway. Creeping ocean waves below have been slowly lapping at the loose soil, causing extensive erosion that threatens to pull the roadway apart. Laguna Beach city officials said that, while this stretch of road is outside of their local jurisdiction, they are working with Caltrans to determine needed repairs and a reopening timeline, which as of Oct. 16 remains unknown.

Farther south, the San Diego County city of Carlsbad recently declared a local emergency over the road into Tamarack State Beach and the parking lot, which has been almost entirely wiped away by strong waves in recent months. “Crumbling asphalt, sand and debris are scattered everywhere,” reads an on-scene report from San Diego’s KUSI-TV earlier this week.

Up in Malibu, Westward Beach Road, a key access point for Point Dume State Beach, has been closed indefinitely since early August “due to severe erosion caused by recent high tides and surf,” according to the Los Angeles County Department of Beaches and Harbors. Not far away, Malibu’s world-famous stretch of Pacific Coast Highway is also suffering from “rapidly worsening coastal erosion,” city officials said in August. The city called on the state’s transportation agency to address the ongoing erosion along portions of Malibu’s 21 miles of PCH, which see roughly 15 million annual travelers, per . 

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Things may get worse this winter, too, as a rising ocean reaches farther inland to once-safe streets and highways. One needs only to look at San Clemente’s long-troubled Surfliner rail line, which hugs the choppy coastline just feet from shore, to get a sense of how disruptive things may get.