Guitars and a birth certificate: Long Beach packs up ahead of Rachel's surf
Chris Wolfe's report from the Seaside Walk evacuation zone leads KTLA 5's crowded storm coverage, with one resident calling it the worst storm since 1939.
KTLA 5
Story of Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 399,631 views a day, 27 times a normal first day on this channel (14,666).
High surf damages beachfront homes in Long Beach
Michael Page has his evacuation list down to the essentials. In Chris Wolfe's report for KTLA 5, the Long Beach resident is packing his guitars and his birth certificate before heading off on an electric trike to his daughter's home.
The reason is a mandatory evacuation order for Seaside Walk between 64th and 66th Place, on the narrow Long Beach Peninsula, where waves from former Hurricane Rachel have been pounding the seawalls. Wolfe describes the scene as "both fascinating and frightening," with ground you can feel shaking, and says that when the waves hit the seawall, "it sounds like an explosion, like a bomb." Drone footage shows water spilling over the barriers onto residential boardwalks and into the streets. Residents fill sandbags while city machinery piles up the beach berms.
Andy Dane Carter, a resident who works in real estate, shares footage of the swells from his balcony and calls it "the worst storm since 1939," though he adds that Long Beach is a resilient city. Dean Grech sounds less certain the danger will pass. "It's scary, man, you know?" he says, explaining that he does not expect the sea to simply pull back and go away.
In 22 hours the report passed 380,000 views. A regular KTLA upload usually draws around 15,000 on its first day. It leads a busy storm shelf: Jillian Smukler's earlier peninsula report about a home on the verge of collapsing into the surf, several Newport Beach emergency updates, and the Balboa Peninsula surfboard paddler we reported on here all drew far more than usual. Wolfe's had the strongest start.
In the comments, many viewers question why homes were ever built and permitted so close to the water. Others ask why lights were still on in damaged houses. One picks up the plan Wolfe mentions to place boulders along the shoreline and wonders whether rock can hold back a sea like this.
Published on Trari
Where next?
What viewers say
Water always wins.
@GadFly-l6d2ySee it on YouTubeThe reporter mentioned that boulders and rocks will be placed along the coastline as some supposed barrier. The sea will knock those boulders and rocks around like marbles in a bathtub. Nothing stops the power of the sea.
@elainebmackSee it on YouTubeAll of our beaches are eroding, looks like Long Beach is going to be another Outer Banks situation.
@marysheffield7028See it on YouTube
1 more comment
One hundred years from now, this part of the City of Long Beach will likely be underwater.
@robtangent4664See it on YouTube
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- Channel
- KTLA 5
- Subscribers
- 1,510,000
- Channel views, last 7 days
- 13,624,479
- Channel views, pace per day
- 1,708,567 (on a normal day: 1,994,010)
- Video published
- October 10, 2026
- Video views so far
- 382,029 (less than a day online)
- Video views, pace per day
- 399,631
The numbers
One storm, many uploads, and this Long Beach report is the one most viewers chose.
💡 Test your knowledge
Which famous ocean liner is permanently docked in Long Beach?
The Cunard liner RMS Queen Mary retired to Long Beach in 1967 and has served there as a hotel and attraction ever since.