San Clemente declares local emergency after pounding waves damage iconic pier
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San Clemente became the latest Orange County beach city to declare a local emergency after powerful swells from Hurricane Marie led to vanishing beaches and a pummeled pier.
On Tuesday, the San Clemente City Council received a report on the damages the city’s coastline sustained and authorized up to $1 million in emergency funding.
According to a staff report, San Clemente Pier lost a pylon and at least 17 braces to powerful wave action and high tides. Costs to repair the pier damage alone could tally $300,000.
Relentless waves also menaced the Capistrano Shores community and clawed off a chunk of slope near coastal train tracks in Cypress Shores. Amtrak and Metrolink passenger service shut down for several days.
The community has experienced damage to private and public infrastructure, including compromised seawalls at oceanfront homes and a partially failed parking lot at Aliso Beach.
But as a Super El Niño looms, councilmembers fretted over the possibility of future beach erosion.
“We know this is on the horizon,” said Councilmember Mark Enmeier. “We, as a city, have to do everything now so that we aren’t on the back end of this emergency later.”
With a unanimous vote, San Clemente joined Laguna Beach and Dana Point in declaring a local emergency, which frees up greater mutual aid efforts between state, county and local agencies.
The city’s declaration seeks to authorize plans more quickly to repair its pier, install sand berms to protect infrastructure like restrooms at North Beach and fortify North Beach with new sand ahead of future storms.
Mark Howlett, president of the Capistrano Shores Inc. homesowners association, thanked city officials for their response, so far, and supported the emergency declaration on behalf of the 90 families that live in the oceanfront community.
“We have record-high waves, we have sand, we have high tides, and we have nowhere to go,” Howlett said. “At the very time that we’re seeing that and concerned about that, we’re seeing 10 houses right down the beach from us [in Dana Point] be red-tagged. We’re trying to figure out what can we do to save our structures.”
Six oceanfront homes in Laguna Beach were also yellow-tagged this month.
As a beach town that has already taken measures to combat coastal erosion, city officials noted that the damage to the coastline could have been worse.
Previously sand-starved, North Beach held up well despite the swells. In 2024, the city approved a $2 million emergency haul of 37,000 cubic yards of sand to its shores.
But city officials are also looking for ways to bring more sand to its beaches to guard against the Super El Niño.
Councilmembers asked Orange County Transportation Authority Planning Director Dan Phu about potential partnerships.
“If there are opportunities for OCTA to partner with the city on how we can get sand further south, and that’s really the key,” Phu said. “In order to even build a sandy beach, there needs to be some sort of a beach width to have equipment to actually spread out the sand. That was very evident in North Beach, whereas it’s nearly impossible, as it stands right now, south in the State Beach area.”
Required permits, inland sand borrow sites and the cost of transporting sediment all pose challenges, but Phu pledged to work with San Clemente City Manager Andy Hall on any possibilities of expedited sand replenishment.
The city of Dana Point has declared a local emergency after coastal flooding and strong surf fueled by Hurricane Marie severely damaged at least 16 beachfront homes.
“We know that there’s more bad weather coming,” said Councilmember Victor Cabral. “In the short-term, I think we have an obligation as a city to protect these homes by dropping some sand.”
Councilmembers voted 5-0 to approve the emergency declaration.
The city called on the Orange County Board of Supervisors to do the same. The county declared a state of emergency on Thursday.
“The county’s declaration frees up resources, streamlines permitting, and accelerates our ability to support cities and residents as they face future storm surges this winter,” said Supervisor Katrina Foley. “I look forward to ratifying this emergency declaration at next week’s special Board of Supervisors Meeting and call on Governor Newsom to declare a State of Emergency for the State of California.”
Updates
4:32 p.m. Sept. 17, 2026: Updated with the county’s declaration of a state of emergency on Thursday.
