Southern California’s ocean just rewrote the record books. And in Newport Beach, the consequences are spilling across the streets.
On Tuesday, October 27, the NOAA tide gauge at San Pedro reached approximately 8.18 feet, surpassing a century-old monitoring station’s previous record of 7.93 feet from 2005. Farther south, the National Weather Service called La Jolla’s 7.98-foot reading “a preliminary all time record at this site.” Santa Barbara also registered record water levels.
These are measurements above a tidal reference point, not eight-foot-deep floods. Still, the impact on land has been extraordinary. See NOAA’s record-breaking confirmation here.
In a new video, Laguna Beach surfer Blair Conklin documents seawater gushing through walkways and storm drains around Newport Harbor, with passengers navigating a flooded approach to the Balboa Ferry.
“We’re looking at stuff that we’ve never seen in California for sure,” Conklin said.
Elsewhere on the Balboa Peninsula, water poured through waterfront properties, swamped the Fun Zone, and covered intersections despite sandbags and city pumps.
Related: Watch: Seawall Collapses at Iconic SoCal Hotel Amid Massive Surf
“We’ve certainly never seen tides up this high,” longtime resident Pam Bacich told ABC7.
And Newport isn’t alone. In Long Beach, water overtopped beach berms near Bayshore Beach, flooding 54th Place and waterfront properties. Parts of Pacific Coast Highway in Sunset Beach also went underwater.
So what’s happening?
The culprit is an almost perfectly timed combination of unusually high astronomical tides, exceptionally warm Pacific water, and an El Niño-associated Kelvin wave—an enormous pulse of water that can temporarily elevate coastal sea levels.
Newport Beach City Manager Seimone Jurjis said water had already been running 15 to 22 inches above predictions.
“A foot and a half may not sound like much,” she warned, but it can be the difference between water remaining below a seawall and entering “streets, garages and homes.”
The National Weather Service extended coastal flood advisories through Friday, October 30, as elevated tides continued threatening vulnerable neighborhoods.
And this may only be the beginning. The year’s highest astronomical king tides are still expected in November, December, and January.
California’s coast has already endured months of punishing surf and erosion. Now, even without monster waves, the Pacific is making itself at home.
Related: Record-Breaking Tides Flood California Beach Towns as El Niño Kelvin Wave Hits (Video)
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