SAN CLEMENTE, Calif. (AP) — For years, residents of this Southern California beach town could walk a mile along a stretch of cream-colored sand and dip their toes in the waves that crashed onto the shore.
This trip was cut short.
Coastal erosion is eating away at San Clemente Beach, known for nearly a century as a “Spanish village by the sea.” Rising seas and crashing waves have pushed the coastline landward, dividing the town’s picturesque north beach. Crumbling seaside cliffs have damaged seaside homes and forced the repeated closure of a passenger rail line considered the second busiest in the country.
It is one of many coastal California communities grappling with the effects of sea level rise. Nearly a decade ago, scientists’ predictions that more than half of Southern California’s beaches could erode significantly by 2100, radically changing the way people live and recreate along the state’s famous coastline.
“The constant pressure is sea level rise,” said Sean Vitousek, a research oceanographer at the U.S. Geological Survey. “It will continue to rise, and rise, and the beaches will move back towards the land. »
After years of erosion, California is bracing for floods and landslides earlier than expected this year. Super El Niñoa temporary warming in parts of the equatorial Pacific known to distort weather patterns around the world. Already this year, the town of Pacifica, south of San Francisco, closed its cracked concrete pier and seawater flooded homes in Long Beach, near Los Angeles, during a hurricane-driven storm surge. A recent study showed that El Niño events become stronger due to human causes climate change.
In San Clemente, a city of 62,000, urban development has slowed the flow of sediment that once nourished the city’s beaches, and warmer ocean waters have pushed waves higher and farther toward shore. It’s become so difficult that residents of this predominantly Republican town are considering taxing themselves to raise money for beach restoration. A measure to add a 1% sales tax to fund wildfire protection and sand replenishment in San Clemente is poised for a vote in November.
Collapse of hills disrupts seaside rail transport
Over the past five years, the railway line that has run along the coast for more than a century has faced repeated closures due to encroaching waves on one side and fragile cliffs on the other. The 7-mile (11-kilometer) segment is part of a 351-mile (565-kilometer) passenger rail corridor that connects San Diego to the massive Los Angeles County port complex and San Luis Obispo. It is also used by cargo and the military.
Transport officials reinforced the railway tracks to ensure the safety of passengers by laying stones. But when waves hit the rocks, they carry more sand out to sea and accelerate erosion that will eventually threaten the railway line again.
Residents say the erosion is significantly altering their community.
“We lost our walkable beach,” said Cameron Cosgrove, a San Clemente resident who authored the tax measure. “It used to be that you could come to North Beach, walk the beach path or down the beach to the pier and even to the south end of town. I can’t do either one anymore.”
City and transportation officials agree that more sand is needed and note that coastal communities, including surf hub Huntington Beach, have been nourishing their beaches for years. Opponents of the measure want the sand — but not the tax — and argue that San Clemente should work with other communities on a regional approach.
“Fighting Mother Nature is very expensive,” said City Councilor Zhen Wu, who opposes the measure.
City Manager Andy Hall said San Clemente faces a sand deficit of about 3 million cubic yards. Getting that much sand to the beach is no easy task, he said, adding that trucking it would require 300,000 trips.
Darrell Johnson, executive director of the Orange County Transportation Authority, said the challenge is getting state permits for more sand. He hopes California’s recent state of emergency declaration on the eve of El Niño will speed up the process. In the long term, Johnson said officials would study moving trains inland — an idea previously deemed too costly. A third option is to stop the line, he said.
“If we can’t figure out how to properly consolidate our business over the long term and we can’t figure out how to move, I think that’s a question that’s going to have to be asked,” Johnson said. “‘What’s happening to passenger rail? What’s happening to freight?'”
More sand will also shape the waves
Farther south, transportation officials have worked to stabilize coastal bluffs to shore up the rail line in the community of Del Mar. The plan is to eventually move the tracks, but officials haven’t decided where.
Charlie Fox, a 56-year-old San Clemente resident and marine meteorologist, said the sand provides a critical buffer between all the structures (railroads, homes, lifeguard headquarters) built along the coast. The longtime surfer said the sand also helps the waves roll gently onto the shore, creating a steady break for surfing.
Recently, surfers waded into the water off North Beach, not far from the rock structure that supports the seaside railway line.
“When you see these rocks, they’re the ones trying to fight the ocean,” Fox said. “It’s a futile attempt.”
“It’s the ocean that wins,” he added. “The ocean always wins in the end.”
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