Posted on October 26, 2026
By Cody Taylor
Two thousand cubic yards of sand were delivered to Newport Beach in preparation for the king tides expected Oct. 26–28.
Mike Shapiro is a Newport Beach resident who lives near the Wedge. He was home during the Oct. 9 flood.
“It was flooded. I would say the homes that were most affected were further down,” Shapiro said while pointing toward The Wedge.
Ahead of the expected king tides next week, Newport Beach was proactive in not only beefing up the berm at the wedge but also placing thousands of sandbags along low-lying areas.
That’s all thanks to strong volunteers like Susan Devens, who is a member of the Community Emergency Response Team and filled about 100 bags.
Volunteers went door to door letting residents know where they could go to pick up sandbags.
Those locations are:
- Corporation Yard 592 Superior Ave.
- Marina Park: 1600 W. Balboa Blvd.
- Temporary Fire Station No. 1: East Ocean Front Parking Lot near Balboa Pier
Newport Beach City Council member Erik Weigand said the sand being moved into The Wedge currently is a short-term solution.
“At the mouth of the Santa Ana River, there is about 100-200 yards of sand that has just come down the river in its natural state and it is pretty much right there for us to grab and excavate,” said Weigand. “Then use trucking along the beach and drop it in spots that would make the most sense for protecting those communities ”
Weigand said recently the city worked on a longer form solution which would involve dredging 200 thousand yards of sand from the harbor entrance onto the beaches.
This project would cost millions of dollars and could start as soon as spring of 2027, according to the city.
“Dumping sand is kind of like, maybe, a band-aid on a challenge that requires more than a band-aid,” said Tess Hachey, a graduate student studying beach changes in Orange County at UC Irvine.
Hachey explained that the beaches have slowly been eroding over time, but this season things are being expedited because of El Nino. She said beach width at the Wedge is the lowest it has been since the 1980s, and a big reason for that is urban development.
“If the urban infrastructure is there, the beaches have nowhere to go,” said Hachey.
