15/10/2026
Historic event for sure. - Now imagine if there was no coastal armoring whatsoever? 🤔
Luckily Aliso Beach Park has had coastal armoring in place since the 1950s, when they constructed the parking lot and park. The army corps of engineers added riprap (large boulders) and elevated the parking lot in order to create the parking lot we all love so much. They also added riprap from the bridge all the way south along the front edge to protect this area. Also this riprap and elevated lot actually act as a buffer to protect Pacific Coast Highway.
If it were not there or left to be destroyed then PCH would be flooded quite frequently. Causing emergency evacuation concerns and first responder blocks. SOOO the best thing to do in this area is continue dropping massive boulders or riprap AND do a sand replenishment project. BOTH to armor and replenish the beach here at Aliso Beach.
The areas where the city is adding rocks is where the palm trees collapsed or sections in between the existing riprap in order to prevent more coastal damage and destruction to the infrastructure and parking lot.
Protecting and enforcing is critical because if pacific coast Highway is damaged then public safety concerns arise even more. As a major evacuation route and traffic artery would be severed. We must protect our infrastructure at all costs for everyone. Just “waiting for sand to return” is not the answer to this problem. Being even more proactive and getting in front of this is the way it should be handled. Because of upstream development our coastal areas have lost sand and it is not being naturally replenished because of urbanization over the earth. Which now prevents erosion which is what actually replenishes our beaches and coastline with sand. By creeks, rivers and streams bringing down sand during rainstorms, etc. Now everything has been concreted or paved over, damns built, concrete storm drains, culverts, homes, roads, sidewalks etc. all preventing the sediment or sand from even starting its journey to our coastline. - if you read this whole description use hashtag in the comment section. 🤙🏻😎
