Surf Floods 3 Homes

SEAL BEACH — Surf driven by Hurricane Nora surged over the beach here before dawn Thursday, damaging three oceanfront houses and threatening dozens more, but retreated by early evening as 3,000 people jammed the pier to watch the high waves.

What had begun as a frantic day for residents rudely awakened by pounding waves at 4 a.m. ended in a party atmosphere, with beer-sipping spectators crowding the beach to see whether the flooding would continue.

The storm dropped about half an inch of rain in Orange County, and wet roads contributed to a number of traffic accidents before showers tapered off late Thursday. The California Highway Patrol reported one fatality.

Whipped by high winds, 10- to 20-foot waves washed across a half-mile area near downtown Seal Beach at 4:30 a.m.

“The sound of the waves woke me up,” said Betty Moore, 78, who has lived in her home at 14th Street and Seal Way since 1956.

No evacuations or injuries were reported. But the storm caused extensive flood damage to three houses and threatened 45 others on Seal Way as seawater seeped into garages and lapped at beach-side porches.

“It was breaking like ‘The Poseidon Adventure’ over the beach,” Seal Beach Police Officer Michael Vasquez said.

Sleepy residents scrambled to fill and stack sandbags, while the Orange County Fire Authority rushed machinery and two 12-person crews to help the city’s Public Works Department construct a berm that stretched for six blocks. Workers ferried sandbags by kayak to nervous residents.

“Standing in the alley, you could see the waves coming at you. It was scary,” said Kathleen Nelson, who lives on Ocean Avenue in the neighborhood where most of the flooding occurred.

Dave West, who lives on 12th Street, bolted out of bed at 4 a.m. thinking an earthquake was happening.

“I heard a rush of water and felt a pounding,” West said. “I looked outside, and the water was streaming across the street.

“By 6 a.m. I had 2 feet of water in the hallway,” West said. Rescue workers surrounded his garage with sandbags.

As heavy machinery built up the berm and dug a drainage channel, lifeguards closed the beach at 9 a.m. to keep people from being injured during the emergency work. But surfers, to their delight, were allowed into the water.

“These are the best waves these guys have seen in years,” Fire Authority spokesman Dennis Shell said.

Through the day, residents watched in awe as massive waves slammed into the shore, while authorities pored over weather forecasts and girded for high tide at 6:18 p.m.

At 7 p.m., bulldozers were still piling sand on the 8-foot-high berm, but it appeared to be holding back the water, to officials’ relief. “I think we’re going to be just fine,” Seal Beach Police Lt. Kenny Mollohan said. “You can see the water cresting over the beach, but the berm is holding. We won’t be evacuating.”

Seal Beach resident Chris Bennett was among the spectators late Thursday. “I think everybody is kind of let down. We were expecting more. But the people who live over there [where the flooding occurred] are happy.”

Scott Dekraai of Seal Beach, holding a beer and smiling broadly as he watched the surf from his second-floor patio, said: “No problem, no problem at all. I think we made it just fine.”

Southern California was spared the sort of devastation that the storm had wreaked on Mexico’s Baja California earlier this week. But the effects were widespread.

In Yuma, Ariz., heavy rain triggered floods, knocked out electrical power and snarled traffic.

As much as 4 inches of rain fell in the mountains of San Diego, Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Rainfall was generally lighter but still substantial in Los Angeles County.

Agricultural officials in Imperial County, which provides a large share of the nation’s winter produce, estimated that the storm caused $4 million in crop damage, mostly to lettuce, carrots, broccoli and cauliflower. That damage could increase if mold sets in, the officials said.

Almost 2 inches of rain fell in Palm Springs. The runoff flooded several streets in the desert resort city and in nearby Indio, but there were no reports of major damage in the Coachella Valley.

San Diego reported a few flooded streets and high surf, but officials said no major damage was apparent.

In Orange County, the daylong rain contributed to an overwhelming number of fender-benders on freeways and city streets across the county.

“Normally we have 600 to 700 incidents on a day like this,” said Officer Kari Keul of the California Highway Patrol. “We’re now at 1,130,” she said at 5 p.m.

“At one point in one half-hour period, we had 30 reported collisions.”

Most of the accidents were minor, officials said, but one was deadly.

Shortly after midnight Thursday, authorities said, Inhee Suh, 20, of Cypress was killed when her car spun out of control and hit a truck on the Riverside Freeway between Weir Canyon Road and the Imperial Highway in Anaheim. About 9 a.m., a car skidded into a power pole and knocked it onto Laguna Canyon Road, just south of the San Diego Freeway. The pole blocked the northbound lanes for more than an hour, the CHP reported. Late Thursday, a chlorine gas leak in Los Angeles County forced the closure of the Orange Freeway between Lambert Road and Diamond Bar, Keul said.

Though the storm was strong enough to cause flooding and damage in Seal Beach, it did not bring enough rain to end the danger of brush fires, fire Capt. Scott Brown said.

“If we get a couple of days or a week’s worth of sustained rain activity, that will lessen it quite a bit,” Brown said. “Other than dampening the vegetation, if it was to stop tomorrow the danger would still be significant.”

Weather forecasters expected the rain to end by midnight and be followed by partly cloudy skies today. Temperatures are expected to be in the mid-80s along the coast and near 90 inland.

By tonight, the clouds should have moved on, leaving mostly clear skies, said Wes Etheredge, a meteorologist for WeatherData Inc., which prepares forecasts for The Times. By Saturday, he said, conditions should be back to “near normal” for this time of year: sunny skies and moderate temperatures.

Etheredge said the recorded rainfall Thursday in Anaheim was 0.41 inch; Newport Beach, 0.64; San Juan Capistrano, 0.57; Santa Ana, 0.60; and Dana Point 0.63.

Seal Beach puts up a berm every year in late fall to minimize erosion from winter storms. Some residents complained Thursday that the city should have done so sooner this year because of the prospect of damage from storms spawned by the weather phenomenon known as El Nino.

But Mayor Marilyn Bruce Hastings said many beachfront homeowners gripe that when the berm is built each winter they lose their view of the ocean.

Besides, she said, the city was not to blame for this flooding.

“I’ve been begging state and federal officials for funds for new sand for our beach for 7 1/2 years,” the mayor said. “I’ve been telling them with the erosion of the beach it is unsafe to the people living here.”

City Manager Keith Till said the state finally agreed this year to allocate up to 80% of the $1.1 million needed to haul 115,000 tons of new sand onto the beach, but it will not be delivered until mid-October.

“Even if that berm had been here, the waves would have gone over it anyway,” Till said. “We haven’t had waves coming up and pounding into homes [since] the last El Nino,” which caused flooding in March 1983 and washed away Seal Beach’s historic wooden pier.

But Stu Grandel, who has lived in his beachfront home for 25 years, was not satisfied with the city’s explanation.

“This city is dumb and stupid,” he said. “They say this is a surprise, but they were warned. All month they’ve been warned about the storms coming. What did they do? Nothing.”

Steve Currie, who lives between 11th Street and 12th Street behind Seal Way, agreed.

As he caulked his garage door, anticipating higher waves Thursday night, Currie recalled that in 1995, “The city blew it by taking the wall down too soon. This time they blew it by not putting it up soon enough.”

Having survived earlier floods, Currie was prepared this time.

“I built this a couple weeks ago and sealed everything,” he said, gesturing to a large plywood square he cut to fit over his garage door. “Last time we got flooded. This morning, with all this in place, I stayed bone-dry.”

The home that appeared to suffer the most damage was at 13th Street and Seal Way. Three inches of water covered its new hardwood floors and an Oriental rug.

David Mosikian, who said his fiancee’s parents own the house, worked furiously with a helpful surfer from Sunset Beach to clear the first floor of furniture, computers and other goods.

“It’s still a great city. Stuff like this happens,” he said.

Contributing to this report were Times staff writer David Haldane and correspondents Cathy Werblin, Susan Howlett and Steve Carney in Orange County; staff writers Eric Malnic in Los Angeles, Jose Cardenas in the San Fernando Valley and Tony Perry in San Diego; and correspondent Richard Warchol in Ventura County.

Storm Coverage

* FLOOD: Are you thinking about insurance policies? Here are answers to some common questions. A27

* WAITING: After piling up sandbags, residents watched nervously as high tide neared. A28

* EL NINO: The rain announces an early start to a wet winter weather season. A28

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Rain Arrives

Thursday’s storm broke a run of 120 days since Orange County received any measurable rainfall--.01 inch on May 17. Most cities received about half an inch, and high seas combined with high tide caused some flooding in Seal Beach. Rain totals in inches for some Orange County cities (as of 4 p.m., Sept. 25):

Anaheim: .41

Dana Point: .63

Laguna Beach: .55

Newport Beach: .64

San Juan Capistrano: .57

Santa Ana: .60

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Santa Ana Readings

Thursday storm: .60

Rainfall on same date, 1996: 0

Average rainfall for season to date: .33*

* For season beginning July 1

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Friday Forecast

Partly cloudy with temperatures in the mid- to upper 70s along the coast and low 80s inland, continuing through the weekend. Humidity will remain during next two or three days. Wave heights will decrease, with small-craft advisories in effect through Monday.

POINTER: Minor flooding damaged homes

Sources: WeatherData Inc., Times reports