Emergency seawalls installed after El Niño storms are becoming permanent fixtures on California beaches, cutting off sand supply and speeding erosion, according to a new Surfrider Foundation report.
The nonprofit's 2026 State of the Beach report, released Oct. 20, found that 27 of the 30 coastal and Great Lakes states it evaluated earned a C or lower for policies meant to keep temporary emergency armoring from becoming permanent. No state earned an A. California received a C, according to Patch.
The findings carry weight locally. La Jolla Shores, Sunset Cliffs and four other San Diego beach sites were identified in the city's coastal resiliency master plan as most at risk from sea-level rise, according to the San Diego Reader in a February 2025 report. La Jolla Shores and Tourmaline Surf Park were held back from the plan's current phase because of insufficient funding and unresolved design disagreements, Julia Chase, the city's chief resiliency officer, said in that coverage.
The Surfrider report describes what it calls an "Emergency to Permanent Permit Pipeline." After a storm, rocks, sandbags and concrete go onto a beach under emergency permits. In most states, nothing ensures they ever come off, according to Fox 5 San Diego. Once a hard structure is in place, upland sand replenishment is cut off and erosion accelerates on neighboring properties, creating demand for still more armoring.
"An emergency permit should buy time for meaningful adaptation — not become a poor substitute for it," said Emma Haydocy, Surfrider's Coasts and Climate Initiative senior manager, in a statement accompanying the report.
The report graded state laws against seven criteria, including whether emergencies are defined narrowly enough to exclude long-predicted hazards, whether written authorization is required before work begins and whether structures must be removed. Only Connecticut, Oregon and Texas earned a B. Five states earned an F, according to the Surfrider press release. The grades measure laws on the books, not enforcement.
In Southern California, the report cited San Clemente, where roughly 27,000 tons of riprap have been placed along a rail corridor under emergency permits since 2021. The barriers have made a stretch of beach connecting the Trestles surf breaks to the rest of town impassable, according to Surfrider.
A Stanford Law School analysis published Oct. 21 noted that California's Coastal Act disfavors seawalls but allows them under emergency permits. Charles Lester, a former California Coastal Commission director, told Stanford Law that once rock goes on the beach, removing it is extremely difficult. Gov. Gavin Newsom's Sept. 21 state of emergency proclamation instructs the Coastal Commission to expedite permit reviews, a move the Stanford analysis said could test the agency's resolve during this El Niño season.
The armoring debate is already playing out in La Jolla. At a July 15, 2025, La Jolla Community Planning Association development review, a permit application for a coastal bluff seawall at 5360 Calumet Ave. drew pointed discussion. Committee member Jackson noted that Surfrider had presented to the group, arguing bluffs are supposed to erode and that armoring them is counterproductive, according to meeting minutes. The committee voted 4-1-1 to recommend approval.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) puts the odds that the 2026-2027 El Niño becomes the strongest on record at 83%. Tropical Storm Rachel caused significant damage along the Southern California coast the weekend of Oct. 10-12, collapsing part of the Long Beach Peninsula boardwalk and flooding blocks of Newport Beach's Balboa Peninsula.
Surfrider recommends states redefine emergencies to exclude forecasted hazards, require advance written authorization, cap emergency structures at two years and trigger long-term responses such as dune restoration and planned relocation.
