High tide and powerful waves pound Southern California beach communities
The powerful waves from Hurricane Marie continued to push water and sand into Southern California's beach communities.
"I've never seen anything like it," Long Beach resident Heidi Buehler said.
Buehler said the high surf continuously chipped away at the seawall next to her neighborhood, pushing sand and water into the street.
"It flooded pretty bad. The sand came in through our street and just kept coming and coming and coming," Buehler said. "The water came up this high last night. And so, we put sandbags here. I sandbagged my neighbor's garage as well.
The sand also buried some cars in Kamila Svorobic's neighborhood near the boardwalk.
"There were cars buried, so I was like, let's go help the community," she said.
Svorobic and dozens of others stepped in to help their neighbors and add more protection to their homes.
"We've all been prepping and tryin to help the neighborhood from being out underwater," she said. "It's been pretty wild."
In Orange County, Hurricane Marie delivered more big waves to beaches for the third straight day as hundreds came to the Balboa Peninsula to watch surfers.
Lifeguards said the conditions calmed down on Monday but still left behind dangerous conditions at the end of the Labor Day weekend. They said they gave out 7,200 warnings and rescued 190 people from the ocean.
"Since Saturday was one of the first times in recent memory I could recall having red flag conditions from one end of Newport Beach to the other end of Newport Beach," Battalion Chief Adam Yacenda said.
Waves at Aliso Beach moved tons of sand into the parking lot, forcing it to close as crews cleared it out.
The storm surges also chipped away at the Giles family's patio and yard in Laguna Beach, forcing inspectors to yellow-tag part of the property.
"A lot of deterioration," Heather Giles said. "There is not a lot left behind the wall. The wall itself has several more cracks in it. Several more places where it has weakened. It's still holding. That's all we can say. It's still holding."
