Cliff Erosion PUSHES California Homes Into The Sea

Hurricane Marie's swell battered the Southern California coast over Labor Day weekend 2026, forcing evacuations in Long Beach and Malibu and damaging homes in Dana Point. The storm never came anywhere near land. So what turned a big summer swell into red tags, a sinkhole and a house in the surf? Hurricane Marie formed in the eastern Pacific off Mexico on September 1, 2026, peaked as a Category 2 hurricane on September 3-4, and weakened far offshore before its last National Hurricane Center advisory on September 8. Its long-period south swell reached Southern California from September 5 to 9. The National Weather Service in Los Angeles and San Diego issued high surf and coastal flood advisories for beaches from Ventura County to San Diego County. On the Long Beach Peninsula, the Long Beach Fire Department ordered about 20 homes on Seaside Walk between 63rd and 67th Place evacuated on Monday, September 7, after waves damaged the seawall and boardwalk; the evacuations were lifted September 9.------------- In Malibu, a driveway collapse on Sea Level Drive near Point Lechuza on the morning of September 8 ruptured a gas line and cut off access to the private road, at a beachfront home property records show was bought by Nicolas Cage in 2024. The City of Malibu proclaimed a local emergency and ordered 31 parcels evacuated. In Dana Point, homes on Beach Road in the Capistrano Bay District were damaged and red-tagged. Lifeguards in Newport Beach and across Orange County made hundreds of rescues, the coastal rail line near San Clemente closed, and waves reached Pacific Coast Highway at Point Mugu. NOAA's Climate Prediction Center issued an El Niño Advisory on September 10, 2026.