Homeowners in Long Beach are expressing their outrage towards Mayor Rex Richardson after Tropical Storm Rachel wreaked havoc on their multimillion-dollar beachfront properties.
Dennis Poulsen, at 84 years old, constructed his home on Ocean Boulevard two decades ago. Last week, he noticed “just a little bit of water” making its way inside, but his frustration with the city’s leadership runs deep.
“The mayor of Long Beach doesn’t give a damn about this community… His real supporters aren’t here, and he doesn’t seem to care,” he remarked.
As residents assess the damage, the storm has turned some dream homes into sources of devastation. Natalie Cabrera, 59, who had only rented a seaside bungalow for a year and a half, is distraught after the aggressive waves compromised her foundation.
“I don’t want to leave. Not at all. This place means everything to me,” she shared with The California Post, describing how water infiltrated beneath her home, making the floor feel “squishy” from prolonged ocean impact.
The recent storm followed a battering from Hurricane Marie over Labor Day and Hurricane Polo shortly after.
Robert Wells, 80, with a family summer house in the area since 1962, deemed the destruction unprecedented. “It’s never been this bad before,” he shared with The Post, directly attributing the flooding to city management, which he believes turned potential minor damage into a significant disaster through the construction of a protective sand berm.
“A class action lawsuit is in the works against the city of Long Beach,” he noted.
In response to the storm’s impact, city officials provided 7,600 sandbags to residents, adding to the nearly 15,000 distributed over the recent storms. By Sunday, eight buildings had been marked unsafe for entry, and one was labeled safe for limited access to retrieve belongings, as indicated by Mayor Richardson.
“These impacts are not typical. They’re unprecedented for our community, and while our teams are working tirelessly… these ongoing threats have caused significant damage right at our shoreline’s doorstep,” Mayor Richardson commented last week.
