South County Beaches, Railroad Slammed by High Surf

San Clemente and Dana Point residents share a common surf culture, life style and intense love of their beautiful coastlines. Lately, they’re also sharing a collective sadness about the fate of their rapidly eroding beaches as relentless heavy surf shrinks sand, damages infrastructure and imperils coastal access.

For Capistrano Beach residents, the losses just keep coming. Dana Point’s “Capo” Beach Park lost major infrastructure including a beautiful boardwalk, a popular basketball court, parking spaces, sidewalks, palm trees and even restrooms in an unexpected collapse in the aftermath of a rough surf event in 2018. Since then, they’ve watched as OC Parks digs out buried concrete picnic tables, back fills missing sand and scrapes cobble strewn parking lots, only to watch the same thing happen again. And again.

In the past few weeks, waves powered by hurricane Kay relentlessly clawed at the Capistrano Bay shoreline, particularly damaging the south end of the County owned parking lot protected solely by giant sand bags that have been rapidly failing. Residents watched with sadness as three large “bites” in the shoreline widened, eventually collapsing the berm and leaving little more than a few feet between protective k-rails and the foamy onslaught, threatening the stability of the adjacent paved lot. Sand bags installed mere months ago have been ripped to shreds by wave action, and Park rangers work daily to fish the remnants from the water. Large protective, cube-like sand bags have been tried several times, but seem to quickly shift, tear and ultimately, collapse. It’s clear that the portions of the beach protected by rip rap (large boulders) fare much better, but so far the California Coastal Commission (CCC) has opposed more hard armoring at the site.

Meanwhile, just a couple of miles south, OCTA crews will be working from 10 PM to 5 AM through mid-October, adding yet more rip rap along the rail road track wedged between bluff and encroaching ocean. Eleven thousand tons of boulders were added last September when land movement along unstable bluffs at Cypress Shores triggered a 29-inch shift in the single track, halting train service temporarily. Since then, trains continue to encounter overtopping waves, which inevitably wash railbed material away, destabilizing the tracks.

For now, OCTA has issued a "go slow" order while crews work on securing and stabilizing the tracks. Surfers and residents reported trains crawling along the segment as intermittent waves battered engines and passenger cars.

The CCC seems to hold little sway over the railroad, which continues to hard armor and widen the revetment as the beach relentlessly shrinks. San Clemente resident, Susie Whitelaw noted, "Five years ago, you came out of the tunnel, walked up 10 feet of berm to look out over 100 feet of dry sand. Now it’s two feet lower and filled with riprap. Our family had a picnic on Labor Day, on the beach directly in front of the dog in this photo - except a few short weeks ago it was about 50 feet wide and about 10 feet higher. Heartbreaking”.

As San Clemente residents contend with shrinking shorelines and more rock - which seems to do little to stop, and may actually exacerbate the relentless erosion, Orange County Parks faces similar challenges at Capo Beach Park. Public Works is on site trying to define a scope of work to protect a large storm drain which was basically stripped of sand and protections during the recent wave action. It’s a struggle to get heavy machinery in place even at low tide, as there is little room between the shoreline and the incessantly shrinking beach. The south end of the parking lot and remaining beach will be closed indefinitely while Orange County Public Works determines the best approach to protect what’s left. Waves crash against the embattled shoreline daily as residents cope with about 50% less parking and coastal access. For now, the public is cautioned to stay out of the area until further notice.