"Working against the tide": SkyFOX over Newport Beach's flooded peninsula
FOX 11's helicopter footage shows loaders rebuilding sand berms as Tropical Storm Rachel's swells push seawater to the front doors on the Balboa Peninsula.
Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 943,275 views a day, 125 times a normal first day on this channel (7,531).
Newport Beach sees massive flooding from Tropical Storm Rachel
"They're working against the tide, literally." That was Stu, reporting from the SkyFOX helicopter over Newport Beach, describing the crews below. Front loaders were pushing sand into berms along the Balboa Peninsula, and the seawater kept spilling over them.
The clip runs a little under three minutes and comes from Good Day LA's breaking coverage. It follows the water inland. Cars keep driving down a flooded Balboa Boulevard ("Still open though," Stu notes), and a white van sits stranded in the high water. On West Bay Avenue the flood reaches the front doors of homes, and one resident gets along the street on a stand-up paddleboard. A fire engine is on the scene, though Stu reports no active rescue calls at that point. "The devastation, it is pretty widespread," he says.
It has become the station's most watched video of the storm by a wide margin. It passed 600,000 views in its first 11 hours, when a FOX 11 Short usually gathers a few thousand in a whole day. The comment section is dozens of times busier than usual. Much of the talk is about the cars wading through saltwater and the rust that may follow. Viewers also bring up insurance and building on a sand spit, and several point out that the storm itself had not yet reached the coast.
The station's longer report, "High tide floods streets of Newport Beach," fills in what the helicopter cannot show. The city declared a local emergency, and crews opened tide valves and set up pumps. Officials asked people to stay off the peninsula and never to drive through floodwater, with the most dangerous surf expected Sunday morning. Up the coast, FOX 11's Long Beach reports show waves tearing away part of the Alamitos Peninsula boardwalk and inspectors red-tagging homes. By Saturday the channel was carrying Newport Beach officials' live update on the flooding.
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What viewers say
Absolutely love that area so many good times ❤Be safe Locals .
@CC-gb8wjSee it on YouTubeWow, stay safe everyone!
@mikeses-808See it on YouTubethe cars driving thru the saltwater will bear the curse of salt corrosion...dont do it
@scott-gy6feSee it on YouTube
1 more comment
Those cars are going to be rusted out by next year
@ItseC851See it on YouTube
Public comments from the video's page on YouTube
- Channel
- FOX 11 Los Angeles
- Subscribers
- 1,360,000
- Channel views, last 7 days
- 2,561,722
- Channel views, pace per day
- 195,826 (on a normal day: 376,673)
- Video published
- October 9, 2026
- Video views so far
- 619,307 (less than a day online)
- Video views, pace per day
- 943,275
The numbers
One aerial clip pulled far ahead of everything else FOX 11 posted about the storm, and its comment section filled faster still.
💡 Test your knowledge
Which television drama was set in Newport Beach?
The O.C., which premiered on Fox in 2003, followed families living in Newport Beach in Orange County.



