Newport Beach warned residents on Friday, June 12, to brace for king tides that are expected to roll in from Saturday evening through Tuesday night, with salt water threatening to push into streets and homes in the city’s most flood-prone beach neighborhoods.
The timing matters because the highest tides arrive just as coastal conditions are still rough. City officials said the city has already deployed pumps in historically affected areas, installed gap boards on Balboa Island and placed sandbags where flooding is most likely. Motorists are being told to slow down through flooded streets so they do not throw wakes into nearby properties, and residents and visitors are being urged not to park in low-lying areas that can flood during high tides or rain.
The neighborhoods most exposed include Newport Island, Balboa Island, Finley Tract, Lido Village, Balboa Village, LaFayette Avenue, the Peninsula and parts of the Marcus, River and Lake avenues area. Tides are forecast to reach 6.9 feet at 8:15 p.m. Saturday, 7 feet at 9 p.m. Sunday and about 7 feet at 9:50 p.m. Monday, all during evening hours when flooding tends to be hardest to spot until water is already in the streets.
Mark Vukojevic said crews will work throughout the weekend to watch conditions and respond to localized flooding, while also urging property owners near Newport Harbor to install seawall plugs and add sandbags if they have not already done so. The city’s warning comes after recent strong swells chomped away at beaches that act as a barrier between the ocean and infrastructure, leaving less of a cushion if the tide pushes farther inland.
There is one reason the risk is not being treated the same everywhere along the coast. Riley Pratt said the tide will be high, but the swell will not be as high as last week, so the concern for flooding at the state beaches is not as large. Newport Beach’s worry is more local and more familiar: low-lying neighborhoods, tight drainage and water that can back up fast once the tide peaks.
The city has seen what happens when high water and surf line up. In 2020, a mega swell combined with high tides on the Fourth of July flooded Balboa Peninsula neighborhoods and parking lots, and in the summer of 2023 the area near the Fun Zone in Newport Beach and Sunset Beach in Huntington flooded within days of each other. This weekend’s tides do not have to produce that kind of damage to cause trouble; even smaller flooding can close streets, strand cars and seep into homes. The next test comes Saturday night, and the water is expected to keep returning, near 7 feet, through Monday evening.
