King tides – highest of the year – cause flooding in coastal O.C.

Newport Beach city workers were kept busy Thursday morning pumping out seawater, driven inland by high tides, that had accumulated along portions of the Balboa Peninsula.

Along Newport Boulevard between 21st and 26th streets, one lane was closed down for about an hour as crews diverted the water from the street into the harbor, but not before a group of neighbors dropped by to try their hand at skimboarding the nearly 1-foot-deep puddles.

No property damage was reported on the peninsula or Balboa Island, Mike Pisani, Newport's municipal operations director, told the Daily Pilot.

It was fortunate that there was no wind and that it stopped raining about 4 a.m., he said. Otherwise, conditions would've been worse for handling the situation.

"We got lucky on that front," he said.

For Newport's lifeguards, however, it was a relatively calm morning, said Capt. Josh Van Egmond. There wasn't the combination for strong surf and tidal surge.

"We were fortunate that we didn't have too much of either," he said.

Newport, as well as the rest of the coast, has been susceptible this week to king tides, the largest of the year.

Thursday's tide peaked about 8:15 a.m., Pisani said.

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-- Bradley Zint, Times Community News