It was 3:30 a.m. on Oct. 9 and the unthinkable was happening all around Shawn Curtis: The boardwalk in front of his two-story beachfront apartment building was gone.
asserted
boardwalk → happen → building
The 25-foot-wide sand beach was gone.
asserted
beach → go → ?
Salt water poured in from all sides.
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water → pour → sides
And now the building was slanting down into the ocean.
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building → slant → ocean
Curtis couldn’t make sense of what he saw.
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he → make → what
The window was crooked, and then I saw a big wave crash,” he told NBC News on Thursday.
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he → see → Thursday
The surf crashed all the way up to the second floor.
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surf → crash → floor
Neighbors across the street said they could see water cascading down onto the roof of Curtis’ home of nine years.
uncertain
water → say → years
Booming waves were loud enough to wake him and shake his apartment as though an earthquake rippled through, he said.
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he → boom → apartment
“We rushed for our lives, but it was clear the house was toast,” Curtis said, referring to his roommate.
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Curtis → rush → roommate
“It was a foregone conclusion.
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It → forego → ?
It was gone.”
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It → go → ?
The worst of El Niño is still months away, but Southern California’s fragile coastline is already being transformed by record-setting king tides and storm surges.
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coastline → transform → tides
An unusually active hurricane season triggered a trio of storms that pummeled Hawaii and Mexico earlier this year.
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that → trigger → Hawaii
The historic weather pattern claimed more than a dozen homes along the shore in Long Beach, swallowing up boardwalks and portions of the Pacific Coast Highway farther south.
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pattern → claim → Highway
“This is just a little bit of a taste of what we will see in the future,” warned Timu Gallien with the Coastal Flood Lab at the University of California, Los Angeles.
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Gallien → see → California
Last weekend, destructive surf thrashed coastal communities from Malibu to San Diego, flooding neighborhoods in Newport Beach and forcing people to evacuate homes in Long Beach that were once protected by wide sand beaches and reinforced boardwalks.
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that → thrash → beaches
The devastation spread on a sunny, calm weekend without warning.
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devastation → spread → warning
California did not experience any rain or wind before massive swells overtook Laguna Beach, where a portion of the PCH remains closed as sections crack and slide down toward the ocean.
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sections → experience → ocean
“People don’t realize there was a beach here,” Long Beach Peninsula resident Dana Marie Lazzareschi said Thursday.
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Lazzareschi → realize → ?
Lazzareschi said she fell in love with the peninsula’s diversity and sense of community when she first moved into her rental four years ago.
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she → say → rental
Neighbors were chatty and looked out for each other.
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Neighbors → look → other
They walked their dogs, rode bicycles up and down the street and were quick to help if someone needed it.
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someone → walk → it
But on Oct. 9, as she watched waves splash onto rooftops, she wondered how long she could stay.
uncertain
she → watch → rooftops
“I definitely wouldn’t buy a home here now,” she said.
asserted
she → buy → home
For decades, scientists and marine biologists have warned that increasing global temperatures would trigger rising sea levels and inevitably lead to more coastal flooding.
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temperatures → warn → flooding
This year, those existing factors coincide with what is predicted to become the strongest El Niño event in recorded history.
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what → exist → history
El Niño is a natural climate pattern associated with intense rainfall and storms in the Southeast and warm conditions in the Pacific Northwest that can cause strong, dangerous surf.
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that → associate → surf
But it doesn’t end there.
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it → end → ?
Kelvin waves, which travel hundreds of miles underwater, can cause waves to rise another foot.
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waves → travel → miles
Alone, Kelvin waves generally don’t lead to coastal flooding, but when paired with high tides that exceed 7 feet and storm surges on top of that, the combination can be catastrophic, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
uncertain
combination → lead → Oceanic
“Although the waves and the tide levels are receding slightly right now, very slightly, there still is ongoing coastal flooding, and this is not really going to get any better for months,” said climate scientist Daniel Swain.
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Swain → recede → months
“In fact, it’s likely to get worse before it gets better,” he said, adding that Northern California will begin to experience similar behavior in November and December.
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California → ’ → November
Coastal communities in Southern California began to experience dangerous conditions over Labor Day weekend with the remnants of Hurricane Marie.
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communities → begin → Marie
That was followed soon after by remnants of Hurricane Polo at the end of September and now Tropical Storm Rachel.
asserted
That → follow → September
The peak of a historic El Niño is expected to hit early next year, but three more rounds of seasonal high tides this year will likely bring more flooding and erosion, said Gallien, who is also an associate professor of environmental and civil engineering at UCLA.
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who → expect → UCLA
“It’s a lot of water pointed at our coast,” she said.
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she → ’ → coast
‘Not built for this’
Two weeks before losing his home, Curtis told his landlord he wanted to move out, he said.
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he → build → landlord
Seven-foot waves triggered by hurricanes Marie and Polo had already eaten away at the boardwalk in front of his apartment and he worried that the damage would only worsen with the incoming El Niño that is expected to peak in January and February.
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that → trigger → January
Using wooden planks and sandbags, Long Beach City work crews earlier this month had patched up holes in the boardwalk’s wall created by the hurricanes, but the reinforcements did not hold.
asserted
reinforcements → use → hurricanes
…and 29 more, not listed.
The Aporia
