8-Foot King Tides Threaten California Coast: Flood Warning Sunday to Thursday, Newport Beach Declares Emergency

Exceptionally high king tides are forecast to flood low-lying parts of the Southern California coast from Sunday through Thursday, with the National Weather Service warning of significant coastal flooding in Orange and San Diego counties and Newport Beach forecasting adjusted peaks of 8.3 to 8.5 feet early next week. Newport Beach has declared a local emergency, while Metrolink trains in southern Orange and San Diego counties are suspended for the coming workweek and a Bay Area stretch of Highway 37 is shut for 55 hours for flood work.

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NEWPORT BEACH, California — A coastal flood warning is in effect from Sunday morning through Thursday afternoon for San Diego and Orange counties, where exceptionally high king tides could reach 8 feet or higher and inundate low-lying neighborhoods, according to the National Weather Service. The Weather Channel's Newport Beach alert listing confirms the severe coastal flood warning running from Sunday 5 a.m. PDT until Thursday 1 p.m. PDT.

Source: The Weather Channel, Newport Beach alerts

Newport Beach says actual water levels are running 18 to 22 inches higher than astronomical predictions because of unusually warm ocean water and an El Niño-related Kelvin wave, Surfer reported. The city's adjusted forecasts call for peaks of 8.3 feet on Monday morning, 8.5 feet on Tuesday and 8.4 feet on Wednesday, on top of weeks of erosion that have already fractured the cliff beneath Pacific Coast Highway at El Morro in Crystal Cove State Park.

Source: Surfer, Oct. 24, 2026

Newport Beach has declared a local emergency, activated its emergency operations center and deployed sandbags, protective berms and pumps, Surfer reported. Crews are hauling sand to The Wedge and Balboa Island, Long Beach is dredging Alamitos Bay and pumping sand onto the Peninsula beach, and at Crystal Cove Caltrans is placing 4-foot sand-filled barriers beneath Coast Highway, where the two lanes closest to the cliff remain closed.

Travel is also disrupted. Metrolink has suspended commuter rail service in southern Orange County and San Diego County for the coming workweek because of the tide forecast. In the Bay Area, crews are shutting a section of State Highway 37 for 55 hours this weekend for emergency work to raise flood-prone stretches of the road linking Marin and Sonoma counties to Napa and Solano by 3 feet.

Officials urged residents to take the warnings at face value. "The warning and advisories are real. People should take them seriously because conditions are favorable for flooding," said Doug George, an oceanographer with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Forecasters say still-higher tides are possible around Thanksgiving, Christmas and Martin Luther King Jr. Day, especially if king tides coincide with winter storms.

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