Southern California beach erosion
is worst in a decade
Powerful winter storms sweep away a spectacular amount of sand, leaving a
rugged landscape of rock and cliff-side staircases that drop off into the air.
April 02, 2010|By Tony Barboza
Jeremy and Fernando Gutierrez descended a staircase to a cove in Laguna Beach
for a nighttime lobster dive and almost fell into the ocean.
Even in the darkness, the brothers could see what the problem was -- the sand at
Treasure Island Beach had all but disappeared, leaving a rugged landscape of
rock and a sudden drop-off where the staircase once led gently to the strand.
"I couldn't believe it," said Fernando Gutierrez, 26, of Costa Mesa. "There was no
beach and a 20-foot drop-off."
It's a similar scene at dozens of other Southern California beaches where
powerful winter storms have swept away a spectacular amount of sand.
The vanishing beaches have forced city crews in Dana Point to remove fire rings,
picnic tables and shower pads so lifeguards have room to patrol the remaining
sand.
At Laguna's Rockpile Beach, the waves scrubbed the shore so heavily that jagged
rocks and rusty remnants of an old sewer system that haven't been seen for years
reemerged.
"This year it was just plain rock pile," said Ken Frank, city manager of Laguna
Beach. "Forget the beach."
And at Dockweiler Beach near Los Angeles International Airport, cobblestones
are visible where there once was soft sand, and workers have been using heavy
machinery to fill in some of the more perilous drop-offs.
"We lost half a dozen palm trees that were planted in the 1980s" after the sand
holding their roots washed away, said Rich Haydon, the state Department of
Parks and Recreation superintendent for Doheny, San Clemente and San Onofre
state beaches. "The amount of sand taken away from Doheny is going to take
many, many years to replenish, if it does replenish at all."
The storms' scouring of the Southern California shoreline -- remarkable at some
beaches, barely noticeable at others -- has caused the worst damage and most
significant beach erosion in at least a decade, according to parks and beach
officials.
In January and February, powerful swells, high tides and strong winds swept
away tons of sand from the coastline, stealing as much as 30 to 40 feet of
beachfront at some locations.
In the month or two since the El Niño-driven storms, coastal communities -Laguna Beach, Malibu and Manhattan Beach among them -- have worked to
patch the damage by making repairs and trucking in fresh sand, but some worry
whether nature will return the sand as it has in the past.
The sand loss is a familiar phenomenon.
Questions:
1. What are the two main agents that have caused the beach
erosion?
2. What is a solution to solve the beach erosion dilemma?
3. Will their solution work? What else could they do?
4. A millionaire wants to build a home off of the Laguna Cliffs.
What would you advise to him before he builds?