Demolition crew destroyed private seawall cap in Newport Beach, city says after neighborhood floods

Demolition workers clearing a lot on Newport Beach’s Balboa Peninsula removed a seawall cap, eventually causing a neighborhood flood Wednesday night, authorities said.

George Murdoch, municipal operations co-director for the city, said Thursday morning that the workers had removed a private seawall cap from a lot fronting a part of Newport Harbor known as the Rialto Channel. City spokeswoman Tara Finnigan said it appeared to be a brick planter acting as a seawall to hold back the tides.

The workers were from Tight Quarters Inc., a demolition and grading company based in Santa Ana, Murdoch said. The company had no immediate comment Thursday afternoon.

San Diego-based Hill Construction Co., a luxury homebuilder working on the lot at 519 36th St., declined to comment.

A resident on 36th Street called the city at about 8:05 p.m. Wednesday reporting water flowing into a home, said Fire Department spokeswoman Jennifer Manzella. Firefighters were dispatched to 36th and Short streets but primarily provided traffic control, she said.

Murdoch, who went to the scene, said the water came up to about his knees.

City crews used pumps to disperse the water back into the harbor and placed sandbags where the seawall cap used to be to ward off further flooding.

As the tide came in and peaked at about 9 p.m., “that made everything break loose,” said neighbor Sandy Gold, who was among area residents who walked to the end of Short Street on Thursday morning to check for updates.

By then, the streets were mostly dry, though the area closest to the breach was still muddy.

Finnigan said Thursday that crews are building a temporary sand berm and a sandbag wall to prevent flooding from a high tide expected around 9:30 p.m. She added that City Hall is providing more sandbags if residents want them.

One passerby looked at the pile of sandbags and said, “Big whoops, huh?”

Scottie Upshall, who lives in the neighborhood, keeps some belongings in the garage at a friend’s house near the lot with the lopped-off seawall.

The garage took on some water, damaging a cardboard box containing about 100 of Upshall’s classic rock and pop vinyl records. The collection, passed on by Upshall’s father, aired out Thursday morning in his friend’s living room. Several of the covers were warped and peeled, but Upshall said he hopes the records can be salvaged.

Neighbors said the house that used to be at 519 36th St. was demolished last week. Evening high tides have been increasing since then, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The ocean tide at the Balboa Pier reached 6.3 feet Wednesday night. Murdoch said the sheltered nature of bays makes their high tides higher than ocean tides, meaning the tide at the flood location may have been a foot higher.

Thursday night’s ocean high tide is forecast at 6.5 feet.

Murdoch said the city had been in contact with Tight Quarters, which planned to help reinforce the sandbag wall Thursday. He said the demolition project was properly permitted but that he didn’t know about the chain of communication that led to the seawall cap being removed.

He said the property owner planned to eventually put up a new cap that would bring the wall height to 9 1/2 feet.

Neighborhood resident Danny Sullivan said he took his paddleboard for a ride down the flooded street Wednesday night. Though he had some fun with the situation, he said it’s a good reminder that “we’re only as safe as one person’s seawall.”

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UPDATES:

4:35 p.m.: This article was updated with additional details.

12:45 p.m.: This article was updated with information about Tight Quarters.

11:40 a.m.: This article was updated with George Murdoch’s statements and further details.

9:05 a.m.: This article was updated with Tara Finnigan’s statement about the sand berm and sandbags.

8:45 a.m.: This article was updated with additional details.

This article was originally published at 7:15 a.m.