Westward Beach Road near Point Dume keeps losing ground. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department closed a new section of the road Monday, between the Birdview Avenue cul-de-sac and the west corner of the Sunset Restaurant, after beach erosion undermined the roadway, exposed a county water main and washed away pieces of asphalt.
Damage Hits Just Yards From Active Repairs
The new damage occurred just a few yards from emergency repairs already underway on the road, according to KTLA, whose reporter John Ross Ferrara detailed the latest closure. The city of Malibu said a Los Angeles County contractor is using equipment and materials already staged in the area to try to slow further erosion and road damage, while the city handles traffic control during construction. Officials said they would assess conditions through the night to determine when the road could safely reopen, and Water District 29 planned to temporarily shut off water service to the Sunset Restaurant as a precaution.
This isn't the first time this stretch of coastline has buckled this month. KTLA reported that Westward Beach Road was shut down Saturday, August 1, due to what officials called “severe” erosion, and remained closed through Monday, August 3. Aerial footage showed the land underneath the roadway had completely caved in, leaving drop-offs of up to eight feet in some spots.
A $766,000 Fix Already Underway
Earlier this month, officials moved to stem the bleeding with emergency shoreline work. Deputy Public Works Director Travis Hart said the intervention likely saved the roadway outright, telling dredgewire.com, “Otherwise, we would have lost Westward Beach Road over the weekend.” The shared repair proposal, split 70% by Malibu and 30% by Los Angeles County, totals $766,025, with Malibu's portion covering roughly 132 linear feet and 4,250 square feet of shoreline, per the same report. The rock revetment is meant to protect the roadway, a county water main and a fire hydrant while keeping access open to county facilities.
Beyond the pay gate, the situation hasn't improved either. Westward Beach Road past that point and the Point Dume Beach parking lot remain closed until further notice because of additional erosion driven by high tides and surf, according to palisadesnews.com. No estimated reopening date has been set for either the road or the lot, and restrooms 1, 2 and 3 remain closed after erosion damaged the water line and meter serving them.
El Niño and a Kelvin Wave Keep Piling On
The damage at Point Dume is tangled up with a broader pattern battering the Southern California coast this fall. The erosion is related to high surf tied to the ongoing El Niño season, which experts say could have historic consequences for the region's coastline. A coastally trapped Kelvin wave could add 6 to 12 inches to background sea levels for months, according to the Los Angeles Times, and the National Weather Service has warned that coastal flooding impacts would likely be worse than late September's Hurricane Polo, though not as severe as Hurricane Marie.
Climate scientist Daniel Swain told NBC News that the flooding is expected to persist for months and likely get worse before it gets better. Researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography note that El Niño shifts Pacific winter storm tracks, producing higher surf along the California coast, and that a coastally trapped Kelvin wave can raise sea levels by 6 to 12 inches — a combination that, when paired with high tides exceeding 7 feet and storm surges, can turn catastrophic.
Damage Stretches From Malibu to Long Beach
Destructive waves have been tied to a recent series of hurricanes in the eastern Pacific connected to El Niño, and the fallout has spread well beyond Point Dume. Powerful surf this month ripped apart the Long Beach Peninsula boardwalk and severely damaged beachfront homes there, with multiple homes marked unsafe to enter, KTLA reported. NBC News reported that more than a dozen homes on the peninsula crumbled into the ocean between October 9 and 11, as remnants of Tropical Storm Rachel generated offshore waves up to 17 feet tall. The outlet also reported that eight structures encompassing 13 homes were deemed too unsafe to enter.
Significant erosion has also hit Laguna Beach, Newport Beach, San Clemente, Carlsbad and Santa Monica, per the Los Angeles Times, and a portion of Pacific Coast Highway near Laguna Beach remains closed after sections cracked and slid toward the ocean, NBC News reported. The Times also noted that strong surf blasted through a seawall in Long Beach and caused a large sinkhole at a celebrity's Malibu home over a recent weekend. Longer-term fixes discussed by the Malibu City Council include beach nourishment, dune or sand berm restoration, an engineered seawall and phased removal of the emergency rock now holding the line at Westward Beach Road.
