Monster waves destroy Long Beach community as homeowners share chaotic aftermath

Long Beach homeowners watched in horror as monster waves smashed through their seawall, shredded the boardwalk and turned their street into a lake in minutes.

“The conditions were very normal,” Evelina Mardirossian, 77, told The California Post. “And within five minutes, the entire street became a lake.”

Mardirossian and her husband, David Black, 75, lost $60,000 worth of vehicles when their garage flooded.

“All of our cars are gone.”

“Her car was only three months old,” Black told The Post. “It had 1,500 miles on it.”

The flooding was so severe that about 20 homes directly on the seawall between 63rd Place and 67th Place were placed under a mandatory evacuation order.

Long Beach firefighters went door-to-door Monday evening, telling residents it was time to leave.

The destruction made the warning painfully clear.

Massive waves ripped planks completely out of the boardwalk during Monday night’s high tide, and Tuesday morning’s high tide made the damage even worse.

In some spots, the waves tore straight through the seawall separating the shore from the homes.

Water and debris were sent onto homes sitting alongside the boardwalk.

Residents have been working overtime to protect their properties, piling up sandbags and nailing boards over doors and windows as the surf keeps pounding the neighborhood.

“I wish I had known it was coming,” Del Sunperk, 49, told The Post. “I would at least put the sand bag where my front door is.”

There are also reports of damaged and cracked concrete between some homes.

“The sand level is eroding. So the waves are not coming up and over as much as they’re hitting our boardwalk, which is collapsing in multiple places,” Jen Pieracci-Jensen, 45, told The Post. “So yeah, it’s super stressful.”

“We have a friend that was locked in her upstairs,” she said.

Widespread coastal flooding was reported up and down the coast as the massive swells battered the shoreline.

Mardirossian said residents need more than a basic warning when dangerous conditions are coming.

“I think in the future when they know something like that is happening, instead of just an email saying, by the way, there will be king tides, they need to make a list of these things to do,” she said.

On Tuesday, public works crews were back on the beach with tractors, working to reinforce the sand berm before high tide.

Evacuated residents are staying in local emergency shelters or nearby hotels, while others have packed up essentials to stay with family until city inspectors clear their homes on Wednesday morning.

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