A California town’s beaches are washing away. Can its residents turn the tide?

The Guardian UK Sunday 18 October 2026, 11:00 UTC By Lois Beckett in San Clemente 1 min read

Key Points

Rapid coastal erosion threatens coastal homes and economies, and as Super El Niño rounds the corner, a town is reckoning with the reality of climate crisisSan Clemente is one of southern California’s most picture-perfect beach towns – a capital of American surf culture since the 1950s. In two years, 2028 Olympic surfers will compete at Lower Trestles, a world-class surfing beach.

Rapid coastal erosion threatens coastal homes and economies, and as Super El Niño rounds the corner, a town is reckoning with the reality of climate crisis

San Clemente is one of southern California’s most picture-perfect beach towns – a capital of American surf culture since the 1950s. In two years, 2028 Olympic surfers will compete at Lower Trestles, a world-class surfing beach.

But the town’s longtime cultural and economic driver, its beaches, are now under threat. As pounding waves driven by late-summer storms in the Pacific devour chunks of the California coastline, some of San Clemente’s beaches are growing narrower, the sand increasingly eaten away.

California (LOCATION) Super El Niño (ORG) crisisSan Clemente (PERSON) American (ORG) Olympic (LOCATION) Lower Trestles (LOCATION) Pacific (LOCATION) San Clemente’s (LOCATION)

Originally published by The Guardian UK Read original →

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