California · Republicans · Spain · San Francisco · Fortune Technology
Coastal erosion has been eating away at the beach in San Clemente
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It’s one of many California coastal communities grappling with the effects of sea level rise.
Key facts
- The 7-mile (11-kilometer) segment is part of a 351-mile (565-kilometer) passenger rail corridor that links San Diego with Los Angeles County’s huge port complex and San Luis Obispo
- City Manager Andy Hall said San Clemente faces a sand deficit of about 3 million cubic yards
- A measure to add a 1% sales tax to fund wildfire protection and sand replenishment in San Clemente is on the November ballot
- Charlie Fox, a 56-year-old San Clemente resident and marine meteorologist, said sand provides a critical buffer between whatever structures, train tracks, homes, lifeguard headquarters, are built
Summary
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 lapping ashore. Coastal erosion has been eating away at the beach in San Clemente, known for nearly a century as a “Spanish village by the sea.” The rising sea and crashing waves have pushed the shoreline landward, splitting the city’s picturesque North Beach. “The constant pressure is sea level rise,” said Sean Vitousek, research oceanographer with the U.S. Geological Survey. After years of erosion, California is bracing for flooding and landslides ahead of this year’s expected super El Niño, a temporary warming in parts of the equatorial Pacific known to warp weather worldwide.