Paris Porter, a sailor with hopes of representing Team USA at the 2028 Olympics, has been left heartbroken after powerful storm-driven waves destroyed the California home where she and her husband began their life together.
The 30-year-old athlete posted emotional footage online showing the Long Beach Peninsula property collapsing as fierce ocean swells battered the shoreline during Tropical Storm Rachel.
“That house you’ve seen repeatedly in news reports, drone footage and viral videos—the one partly crumbling on the Long Beach Peninsula—was our home,” Porter wrote.
She added that three major hurricane swells hitting Southern California within six weeks was an almost unimaginable run of weather.
Melanie Miller, a spokesperson for the Long Beach Fire Department, told the California Post that the damage began with Hurricane Marie in September and worsened steadily afterward.
“Then came Hurricane Polo, and now Rachel,” Miller said. “The destruction has been ongoing ever since.”
Porter said losing the rental home she shared with her husband, RJ Porter, was painful enough—but seeing neighboring properties suffer similar devastation made the situation even more heartbreaking.
She recalled that she and RJ had built their relationship and marriage in the house, with relatives living just three blocks away. Weekly Wednesday dinners, countless sunsets and the sweeping ocean view had become treasured parts of their routine.
Paris Porter, 30, is aiming to sail for Team USA at the 2028 Olympic Games and shared emotional footage showing her California home collapsing beneath storm-powered waves.
Porter said the destruction of the Long Beach Peninsula home she rented with her husband, RJ Porter, and the damage suffered by nearby residents “breaks our hearts.”
Porter, whose brother is also a professional sailor, competed at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro and is now targeting the 2028 competition.
The couple said they have found temporary accommodation for eight months while they work out their next steps.
“Watching three storms erase a place that gave us so much peace is devastating,” Porter wrote. She said the loss was especially difficult because of the wider impact on neighbors who had endured even greater damage, adding that the peninsula would always remain meaningful to them.
For now, Porter and her husband have arranged temporary housing through the next eight months as they try to decide what comes next.
Porter, whose brother is also a professional sailor, represented the United States at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio and earned a bronze medal at the 2015 Pan American Games.
Over the weekend, Storm Rachel brought heavy rain, fierce winds and towering surf to Southern California, battering Long Beach’s century-old boardwalk and surrounding coastal neighborhoods.
Video recorded Friday night showed massive waves slamming into a home in the 6500 block of Seaside Walk. The water reached the second-floor windows as parts of the building and shattered boardwalk debris were swept into the ocean.
Additional footage showed floodwater spreading across nearby streets and patios, entering homes and leaving properties severely damaged.
“This kind of activity is not normal,” Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson said Saturday.
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Richardson noted that Rachel marked the third hurricane to strike the area in only six weeks. Hurricane Marie arrived around Labor Day, followed by Hurricane Polo, while Rachel brought another round of high tides, powerful surf and coastal erosion that continued to damage homes and infrastructure along the shoreline.
Chilling footage on Friday night showed towering swells crashing against a home in the 6500 block of Seaside Walk, reaching its second-story windows as sections of the building and broken pieces of boardwalk drifted into the ocean
Local officials distributed 7,600 sandbags in hopes of helping residents protect their properties
The National Weather Service issued a coastal flood warning on Friday afternoon for Los Angeles County beaches until Sunday, as forecasters expected waves of four to seven feet
‘This is easily the most damage I have seen over the past couple of weeks,’ said KTLA’s Rich Prickett, whose crew captured the destruction from a helicopter overhead.
‘Now the entire boardwalk is just starting to shred away, and now some of these homes are being impacted even more severely,’ he added.
‘As you’re seeing this house right here that’s starting to crumble as that erosion just continues underneath the house.’
The National Weather Service issued a coastal flood warning on Friday afternoon for Los Angeles County beaches until 3pm on Sunday, as forecasters expected waves reaching four to seven feet.
‘It’s really heartbreaking to see how much has been affected with the surf and the high tides and everything. I mean, people are losing their houses,’ Stacey Sniezak, Long Beach neighbor, told ABC 7.
Local officials distributed 7,600 sandbags in hopes of helping residents protect their properties.
Miller added, however, that ‘you can only do so much during low tide.’
‘There are limited windows of opportunity, and the dynamics are working against you,’ she said.
Mayor Rex Richardson said the city was taking the situation ‘very seriously,’ adding that it emphasized ‘an importance to be incredibly serious in our region and in our state around climate resilience and coastal resiliency’
Over the weekend, Storm Rachel rained down on Southern California and left Long Beach’s century-old boardwalk battered by blistering winds and towering waves
‘We’re looking at an unprecedented high tide, potentially 7.8 to 8 feet, which is significant for this area,’ Long Beach Fire Department Assistant Chief Jake Heflin said.
‘We’re not just talking about the peninsula, we’re not talking just about Naples, we’re talking about the potential for a citywide impact.’
Mayor Richardson said the city was taking the situation ‘very seriously,’ adding that it emphasized ‘an importance to be incredibly serious in our region and in our state around climate resilience and coastal resiliency.’
Our News Outlet reached out to Porter for comment.
