Huntington Beach officials shared flood preparedness tips, emergency response plans and a new resource portal ahead of the upcoming El Niño season.
During a packed community meeting Thursday night, attended by dozens of Sunset Beach and Huntington Harbor residents who saw their streets and many homes flooded recently, representatives from the city’s Fire Department and Public Works Department discussed what they learned from the string of unusually high tides that swamped the city’s coastal areas in late October. Ocean conditions have been pushing up water levels, making periods of higher tides even higher — records were broken in some areas of coastal Southern California last month.
“We saw that water doesn’t necessarily need to top a seawall to get into your neighborhood or onto your property,” Public Works Deputy Director John Poehler said. “During the October events, water entered around protective barriers and other low-lying pathways.”
As a result of those observations, Poehler said Public Works crews have raised sandbags on city-owned seawalls from two to four rows — equivalent to about 10 feet above sea level. The city also increased its inventory of inflatable bladders to eight, he said, and is working with Caltrans to install more airbags inside state-owned storm drains on Pacific Coast Highway.
Coastal flooding damaged 114 homes and other structures last month as tides surpassed 8 feet, officials said at the meeting. The Fire Department inspected 48 homes, 38 of which were yellow-tagged and 10 were green-tagged, Division Chief Kyle Kramer said.
Kramer said the department is in the process of training and equipping more personnel with protective gear so the city can have doubled the number of responders in the field for future flooding.
Ahead of the anticipated king tides on Nov. 24 to 26, the city launched an online resource hub that includes a map showing which areas will flood first, a flood preparedness checklist and a tutorial on how to use sandbags. Fire Chief Eric McCoy urged residents to sign up for AlertOC, a countywide emergency notification system where officials will be pushing out information.
Several residents expressed concern that flooding might destabilize utility poles on their streets. Public Works Director Chau Vu said the poles are owned by Southern California Edison, not the city, but the utility company has agreed to assess all utility lines in the area in the coming days.
At the behest of one resident, officials said they would look into blocking trash trucks and street sweeping on neighborhood streets during the floods.
Poehler urged residents to fortify their entire property, not only walls facing the water but also garages, back doors and patios. Sandbags alone won’t be enough, he said, recommending barriers made with plastic sheeting and waterproof tape.
“If there’s one thing I hope you take away tonight, it is this: Don’t wait for the next high tide to find out where your property is vulnerable,” Poehler said.
One other serious warning officials gave residents is to store lithium batteries away from saltwater, as one sparked a fire during the October flooding. They urged residents to immediately dispose of batteries that have been exposed to saltwater.