TL;DR: Ten beachfront houses on Beach Road in Dana Point were red-tagged as unsafe by September 12, 2026, after surf linked to Hurricane Marie destroyed decks, walls and seawalls.

Ten Homes Ruled Unsafe On Beach Road

Two additional oceanfront houses in Dana Point were classified as unsafe to enter, lifting the count of red-tagged houses to 10, according to NBC Los Angeles.

The addresses stand in the Capistrano Beach neighborhood, along Beach Road between Dana Point Harbor and San Clemente, an area also described as Beach Street in a Tuesday municipal bulletin cited by CBS Los Angeles.

City inspectors applied red tags when structural harm made continued occupancy dangerous. Yellow tags, which allow restricted access after partial structural harm, also affected several neighboring houses, according to NBC Los Angeles.

Resident Natalie Messana, whose house carried a yellow tag, told the broadcaster the threat was spreading from house to house. She said conditions were deteriorating and that she learned of another impacted house almost daily.

Michael Messina, another resident with a yellow-tagged house, was packing to leave on Tuesday evening. He described sleepless nights upstairs, shaking comparable to a tremor, creaking, cracking and debris thrown upward by the water, according to NBC Los Angeles.

How Surf From Hurricane Marie Caused The Damage

Powerful waves battered the shoreline for days, tearing away decks, breaching walls and undermining seawalls, according to NBC Los Angeles.

The Los Angeles Times reported that coastal flooding and forceful surf connected to Hurricane Marie left at least 16 beachfront houses damaged and led Dana Point to proclaim a local emergency.

Earlier counts illustrate how quickly the tally rose. CBS Los Angeles, citing a city release issued Tuesday, reported seven red-tagged and two yellow-tagged houses, with another evening high tide expected.

By Wednesday night, municipal officials counted nine red-tagged houses, an increase of two from earlier assessments, plus at least seven yellow-tagged houses, up from two the previous day, according to the Los Angeles Times.

ABC7 Los Angeles later reported nine red-tagged and seven yellow-tagged houses on Thursday, September 10, 2026.

One red-tagged house was taken down by crews after waves penetrated its seawall, and the district general manager told ABC7 Los Angeles that two additional houses faced extreme danger.

In one instance, homeowner Shalesh Gupta said his seawall began giving way Thursday, emergency patching proved insufficient, and the failure spread. He said his patio dropped into the ocean Saturday, followed by the living room and bedrooms, according to CBS Los Angeles.

Gupta said he received an emergency authorization to demolish what remained of the residence.

Nearby resident Rafael Heredia called the scene devastating. He told ABC7 Los Angeles he watched a red-tagged house that municipal crews knocked down and was told its occupants were vacationing in Hawaii.

Former Los Angeles Dodger Adrian Beltré and his family were watching Tuesday when the deck of a house they had been remodeling fell into the waves, according to ABC7 Los Angeles.

Dana Point And Laguna Beach Declare Local Emergencies

Dana Point and Laguna Beach both issued local emergency proclamations tied to erosion effects, according to NBC Los Angeles.

Those municipal proclamations led Orange County to activate its Emergency Operations Center on Friday, the broadcaster reported.

Orange County Supervisor Katrina Foley visited Beach Road residents Tuesday afternoon to view destruction and connect households with services, according to NBC Los Angeles.

Foley is urging the county to issue its own emergency declaration. In a statement quoted by NBC Los Angeles, she said government must act fast, record the complete scope of harm and seek every possible recovery aid source for affected communities.

Assemblywoman Laurie Davis also communicated with residents. NBC Los Angeles said it contacted her office Saturday to ask what assistance was being offered and had not received a reply.

CBS Los Angeles reported that Dana Point officials said staff stayed on site to examine harm and, where warranted, attach tags and tell occupants to leave structures showing structural damage that rendered them unsafe.

The first damaged property in the sequence was identified August 28, when a residential deck was wrecked, according to a city release cited by CBS Los Angeles.

Contractors Race To Place Boulder Barriers

Days after the initial battering, property owners said heavy-equipment operators were laboring around the clock to set boulders seaward of houses to limit additional harm, according to NBC Los Angeles.

About 500 boulders were being trucked to the beach, the broadcaster reported in an earlier September 9 account. Those stones weighed roughly 2 to 3 tons each and were scheduled for placement at low tide to reduce undermining, the process in which surf scours the base of a building.

A separate ABC7 Los Angeles account Wednesday described truckloads of rock arriving along the same stretch and an excavator positioning stones, some weighing as much as 700 pounds.

Interim work described Tuesday included construction of a boulder revetment behind houses to shield them from wave action, according to CBS Los Angeles.

Video from the location showed fallen decks and collapsed sea walls while heavy surf continued striking the properties.

Foley noted Tuesday that houses supported by piers were faring better against deck loss, although water passing beneath those houses remained a serious worry, according to NBC Los Angeles.

Permits, Costs And Dispute Over Coastal Armoring

Homeowners said they obtained authorization from the California Coastal Commission but had to locate and hire their own contractors at their own expense, with qualified marine crews difficult to secure, according to NBC Los Angeles.

Capistrano Beach resident Natalie Driessen told ABC7 Los Angeles she paid $1,600 for emergency authorizations from the Coastal agency. She said she had spent almost $400,000 attempting to save her house and argued that more rock in front of the row would have reduced harm to the ocean side and the structures.

Residents and the Capistrano Bay District general manager said they have requested lasting armoring for years, including additional shoreline boulders to absorb wave energy, according to ABC7 Los Angeles.

Contractor Rich Holt, who has worked in the Capistrano Beach community for years, said regulatory delay left prevention undone until disaster arrived. He said rock installation is generally authorized only after residents secure emergency permits, as at least a dozen residents did during the two weeks before the swell from Hurricane Marie arrived, and tidal height then prevented placement for many, according to ABC7 Los Angeles.

Coastal Commission staff worked through the weekend to process emergency requests, the agency said during a Wednesday meeting described by ABC7 Los Angeles.

The Commission said emergency permits require later review under a full coastal development permit, when officials examine what the Coastal Act allows.

Mitch Silverstein of the Surfrider Foundation spoke against emergency seawall permits at the meeting, saying each approved seawall sacrifices the beach in front of it and that those beaches belong to everyone, according to ABC7 Los Angeles.

Dr. Kate Huckelbridge of the California Coastal Commission said the episode reflects current conditions that will grow more difficult and called rapid planning, funding and sea-level-rise adaptation the best route to safeguard coastal towns and preserve beaches for children, according to ABC7 Los Angeles.

U.S. Geological Survey research geologist Jonathan Warrick said erosion has grown substantially as nearby beaches lost sand rapidly, according to ABC7 Los Angeles.

Sand Loss And The Call For Nourishment

Foley said sand replenishment is needed in the area, including around the LOSSAN Rail Corridor, to defend the shoreline, according to CBS Los Angeles.

She described the short-term approach as placing salvaged boulders and sand behind them. She said about 100,000 cubic yards of sand had been placed during the prior three years at Capo Beach, north of the damaged row, and scientists and engineers told her natural movement carried some of that material toward Beach Road, but it was inadequate.

She said about 1 million cubic yards would realistically be required to help restore the beach, according to CBS Los Angeles.

Warrick pointed to routine nourishment near Huntington Beach, saying added sand migrates down the coast and benefits other shore sections, according to ABC7 Los Angeles.

Surf Impacts Beyond Dana Point

Tropical Storm Marie, later described as Hurricane Marie, churned hundreds of miles offshore in the Pacific while sending elevated surf toward Southern California, according to NBC Los Angeles and CBS Los Angeles.

Hours of rain Sunday into Monday plus continued heavy surf were among the effects felt along Los Angeles and Orange county shorelines, according to NBC Los Angeles.

In Malibu, more than 30 houses were placed under evacuation orders because of comparable wave harm, according to CBS Los Angeles.

In Long Beach, almost two dozen houses were evacuated Monday night after surf harmed the boardwalk, the broadcaster reported. NBC Los Angeles reported about 20 houses along the Long Beach Boardwalk were evacuated and occupants rushed to stack sandbags, cover windows and take other flood precautions.

A beach hazards statement remained in effect through Thursday evening for sections of Los Angeles County shore, with dangerous rip currents and lingering southerly swell expected even as the south swell from the tropical system eased, according to NBC Los Angeles.

Homeowners on Beach Road continued strengthening defenses while watching the ocean for the next high-tide cycle. Messana said residents remain vulnerable to natural forces and that additional resources would help, according to NBC Los Angeles.

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