‘This is the worst it’s been.’ King tides flood Southern California beach bars and restaurants – Los Angeles Times

‘This is the worst it’s been.’ King tides flood Southern California beach bars and restaurants  Los Angeles Times

Rashel Mereness was on vacation when this week's record-breaking king tide relentlessly streamed water onto the Redondo Beach International Boardwalk and into her bar, so she called staff to gauge just how bad the flooding was. While on the phone Wednesday morning, one staffer watched a city trash can float by. “I don't think anybody expected as much water as there is, so the sandbags maybe weren't sufficient,” said Mereness, a co-owner of neighborhood sports bar the Slip. “But we've never experienced this. We're all from California, you know? What's weather?” Houseboat residents parked in front of the bar came to help vacuum some of the Slip’s water. Some customers paddled by on rafts and boards, above what used to be the boardwalk.

Mereness and her business partners joked about adding a swim-up bar. “At least there’s no Sharknado,” she said. In an already tenuous industry marked by razor-thin margins, high rents and increasing costs for goods and labor, some of the Southland’s favorite beach bars and restaurants are dumping out buckets of water this month. Many businesses are suffering financial losses though they remain open. Earlier in October a Kelvin wave and strengthened tides due to Tropical Storm Rachel brought flooding to multiple beach communities. This week Newport Beach, Long Beach, Redondo Beach, Laguna Beach and Huntington Beach are