Furious homeowners along a spectacular stretch of California coastline have accused their mayor of neglect as powerful waves continue to consume their properties.
Ocean Boulevard on the Long Beach peninsula, south of Los Angeles, was once celebrated for its picture-perfect beachfront and multimillion-dollar homes.
But a series of extreme weather events, including Tropical Storm Rachel, has left residents increasingly critical of city officials and frustrated by their response to the unfolding emergency.
‘The mayor of Long Beach doesn’t give a damn about this community,’ homeowner Dennis Poulsen, 84, told Our News Outlet, referring to Democrat Rex Richardson, who has served as mayor for four years after previously working on the city council.
‘His natural constituency is not here and he doesn’t really care,’ Poulsen added.
Poulsen built his beachfront Ocean Boulevard home 21 years ago. The property is now estimated to be worth about $5 million, according to online real estate marketplace Realtor.com.
Although Poulsen said only ‘just a little bit of water’ entered his home last week, he is now relying on sandbags for protection. Nearby properties, however, have suffered ‘significant damage,’ he said.
Storm Rachel battered the waterfront last week, with fierce winds and enormous waves stripping away nearly 30 feet of a century-old boardwalk and leaving homes in danger of collapsing into the ocean.
California has been hit by its third hurricane in six weeks, with several beachfront houses in the Golden State collapsing into the ocean.
The latest tropical storm, Rachel, tore away nearly 30 feet of a century-old boardwalk.
Several homeowners had their properties marked with yellow or red tags. Yellow tags allow owners to enter briefly to collect belongings, while red tags indicate that a house is completely unsafe to enter.
Dramatic drone footage captured huge swells slamming into a Long Beach home and reaching its second-floor windows as sections of the building and boardwalk were swept into the water.
Floodwater also spread through side streets and patios, surging into several houses and damaging belongings and property.
Among those affected is Paris Porter, a hopeful member of the 2028 Team USA Olympic team.
In a heartbreaking social media post, Porter said her home had collapsed into the ocean.
Porter and her husband had lived in a one-bedroom apartment on the waterfront, a place she described as having ‘everything we could have ever wanted.’
‘Seeing the destruction, not only to our house but to everyone around us, breaks our hearts,’ she wrote, adding that the couple had found temporary accommodation for the next eight months.
Rachel marks the third extreme storm to hit the area in just six weeks. Mayor Richardson said last weekend that ‘it is not normal that we see this type of activity.’
‘We saw Hurricane Marie over Labor Day, which was followed soon by Hurricane Polo, and now Rachel is bringing with it more high tides, more surf, erosion that continues to cause damage to properties and damage along our coastline.’
Several homes have been marked with yellow or red tags. Yellow tags permit owners to collect their belongings but prohibit them from staying inside, while red tags mean the property is unsafe to enter. Poulsen said his neighbors’ homes received both types of warnings.
Mayor Richardson proclaimed a ‘local emergency’ to manage the extreme weather from October 8 to October 13.
Long Beach home owner Dennis Poulsen, 84, accused Democratic mayor Rex Richardson of not giving ‘a damn about this community’
Richardson proclaimed a ‘local emergency’ from October 8 to October 13 and said ‘it is not normal that we see this type of activity’
The recent storm Rachel saw about 30 feet of a century-old boardwalk being destroyed
Poulsen accused lawmakers of doing ‘too little too late’ and claimed that a local study group had warned city officials about the threats posed by rising sea levels and extreme weather for around 11 years
Locals also took to Facebook to voice their upset about the city’s management of the situation. One user asked: ‘Why didn’t the city start doing something about this a couple decades ago when beach erosion had already started?’
‘Our teams have distributed thousands of sandbags, built sand berms, cleared drains and reinforced damaged coastal protections,’ Richardson wrote on Instagram.
‘Our city teams and neighbors have worked together every step of the way.’
However, locals have questioned the city’s response efforts like sandbag distribution sites which limited each resident to a maximum of 10 bags, with one commenting: ‘Lol yeah those cup cake bags will stop the ocean.’
Others took to Facebook asking: ‘Why didn’t the city start doing something about this a couple decades ago when beach erosion had already started?’
Another one commented: ‘Did they really think Mayor Rex was going to handle this well?’
Poulsen accused the city of ‘wringing their hands and doing half measures. But it’s too little too late.’
The century-old bulkhead separating houses and beach was seen destroyed by the latest storm. Poulsen described the wood’s condition as ‘badly eroded and decrepit.’
‘That’s what’s beginning to happen because of years of neglect and inaction on the part of the city,’ Poulsen claimed, adding that the city has known about the condition for a long time.
One of the city’s measures to deal with the monster waves were sandbag distribution sites but each resident was only allowed to take a maximum of 10 bags
According to Poulsen, city officials have known about the threats posed to beachfront houses for a long time but ‘unless you’ve got people on the ramparts that shout louder than the person next to them, things don’t get done’
Long Beach is now preparing for the winter storm season and the ‘threatened impacts of the 2026-27 El Nino’
To protect the community in the future, the city also announced a dredging project to expand the beachfront by around 200 feet
The 84-year-old was furious when city councilwoman Kristina Duggan described the devastation caused by storm Rachel as a ‘wake-up call’ during a meeting. ‘It’s absolute nonsense,’ the 84-year-old told Our News Outlet.
‘They’ve talked about it for 11 years. But unless you’ve got people on the ramparts that shout louder than the person next to them, things don’t get done.’
He explained that a ‘study group’ held a first meeting to assess the situation of the threat facing beachfront houses within his own four walls in 2015.
Poulsen told Our News Outlet that the group ‘had preliminary recommendations’ to take preventive measures sooner but that those were ignored by city officials. ‘It shouldn’t take a huge storm to get somebody to do something.’
According to a mayor’s office press release, the city is now preparing for the ‘threatened impacts of the 2026-27 El Nino and winter storm season.’
To protect Long Beach from recurring extreme weather and continuously rising sea levels, the city announced an $11.4 million dredging project – the process of scooping sand from the seafloor and depositing it onto the shoreline.
The project is expected to place 415,000 cubic yards of ‘beach-ready sand’ on the peninsula and projected to extend the beachfront out around 200 feet, the press release stated.
Our News Outlet contacted Rex Richardson, Kristina Duggan and the Long Beach City Council for comment.
