L.A.-area beaches deal with sand erosion, damage from big storms

Southland beach communities continue to assess the damage from last week's major rainstorms.

The storms left mounds of trash and debris at the mouth of the San Gabriel River. And the Ventura Pier lost one of its pylons.

In Newport Beach, the storms swept away sand.

“The storms came in with a diagonal attack on the beach, with waves and high tides,” Newport Lifeguard Battalion Chief Mitch White told Brianna Bailey of the Daily Pilot. “That cuts away the sand and creates a longshore current that comes up and sweeps the beach.”

About 50 feet of sand was lost. Work crews using front-end loaders moved about a dozen lifeguard towers farther up the beach to keep them from floating out to sea.

Times photographers went out this week the chronicle the damage. Check out their full photo gallery here.

-- Jill Marie Jones and Shelby Grad

Photos: Top, asphalt is broken up near the Newport Pier, where recent storms, high surf and high tides have eroded the beach. Credit: Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times. Bottom, a pedestrian leaps back Wednesday as a wave crashes on the rocks along Strand Way in Oceanside. Last week's storm-driven waves eroded the wide beach south of the pier and hurled stones, sand and water toward seaside residences. Credit: Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times.

Comments

[victor ulloa]

its mother earths way of saying, "stop polluting the damn ocean"

!