New York Post, on Climate, 25 October 2026

6.0out of 10Serious

5-star hotel in the crosshairs as coastal flooding pushes SoCal to its limits

Tap a highlight to see why it matters.1 finding

A luxury Laguna Beach resort is moving guests off its first floor as pounding Pacific surf threatens Southern California, with coastal flooding and significant beach erosion forecast from Sunday through Thursday. The Surf & Sand Resort is taking extra precautions as waves batter the beachfront property , with a hotel employee telling The California Post that no guests will be placed on the first floor because of the threat. “We are putting no guests on the first floor,” the employee said, describing the move as an abundance of caution.

The worker said the building itself had not been damaged and had withstood major storms in the past. 7 High tides crash against coastal hotels and homes in Laguna Beach. Youtube/Skid Kids 7 High tides hit coastal homes and hotels as Beach Road in Capistrano Beach prepares for King Tides. Youtube/ Skid Kids Explore More California nursing grads face costly do-over as judge rejects college’s legal bid How JFK Jr.’s body was found under 116 feet of water — just hours after team considered calling off search Ilhan Omar’s deleted tweet may reveal that she really did marry her brother But the resort’s precautions underscore . 7 The Surf & Sand Resort is taking extra precautions as waves batter the beachfront property.

Youtube/Skid Kids 7 The National Weather Service in Los Angeles warned that minor to moderate coastal flooding is likely from Sunday through Thursday. Youtube/ Skid Kids The National Weather Service in Los Angeles warned that minor to moderate coastal flooding is likely from Sunday through Thursday, with high tides reaching 7.5 to 8 feet — as much as 1.5 feet above projections. “HEADS UP!!!!” the agency warned , adding that moderate to significant beach erosion was likely and that some areas could face upgraded warnings.

Download The California Post App, follow us on social, and subscribe to our newsletters California Post News : Facebook , Instagram , TikTok , X , YouTube , WhatsApp , LinkedIn California Post Sports Facebook , Instagram , TikTok , YouTube , X California Post Opinion California Post Newsletters : Sign up here! California Post App : Download here! Home delivery : Sign up here! Page Six Hollywood : Sign up here! 7 X/@NWSLosAngeles California’s Office of Emergency Services said a Coastal Flood Advisory would remain in effect along the state’s coast from Oct. 25 through Oct. 29, with Coastal Flood Warnings issued for Orange and San Diego counties.

At Surf & Sand, a newly circulated Instagram video purporting to show a section of the resort’s oceanfront seawall collapsing has added to concerns about the pounding surf. The extent of any structural damage has not been independently confirmed. View this post on Instagram Laguna Beach surfer and skimboarding champion Blair Conklin captured powerful surf pounding the shoreline, where dwindling sand has left beachfront properties more exposed.

“There’s a reason they call it Beach Road… you got the Surf and Sand is now the surf and boulder, and the Beach Road is now—it’s definitely a rocky road,” Conklin said. 7 Elevated tides and disappearing beaches are leaving homes, businesses and public infrastructure increasingly exposed. Youtube/ Skid Kids Conklin said offshore reefs that once helped break incoming waves were no longer providing the same protection. “Waves are not breaking on those reefs that used to protect our coast a little bit… they’re just passing the reefs because it’s deep enough and then doubling up and hitting all the structures on the inside—and there’s no sand buffer.”

The danger extends well beyond Laguna Beach. 🌊 A Coastal Flood Advisory is in effect along California’s coast from October 25 to October 29, with Coastal Flood Warnings issued for the coasts of San Diego and Orange counties. Elevated tides, amplified by the El Niño pattern, could increase the impacts of flooding in… pic.twitter.com/b488KT5eJs — California Governor's Office of Emergency Services (@Cal_OES) October 24, 2026 7 Youtube/ Skid Kids Crews are mounting a $4 million emergency operation to reinforce a fractured 360-foot bluff near El Moro and Crystal Cove, using heavy equipment, rocks and sand-filled plastic bags ahead of the king tides.

In Capistrano Beach, several homes along Beach Road have reportedly suffered structural damage . Six or seven homes have been red-tagged as uninhabitable and are undergoing demolition. The latest threat follows .

Read the original article on nypost.com (opens in a new tab)
What we found (1)

The New York Post reports a week of coastal flooding, beach erosion and wrecked homes in Southern California. It calls this a growing threat to the coast. The only causes it gives are El Niño, a Kelvin wave and hurricane swells, and it never says that a warming climate makes such flooding worse.

  1. Leaves out the climate link

    Serious

    “a broader threat facing coastal communities across Southern California, where elevated tides and disappearing beaches are leaving homes, businesses and public infrastructure increasingly exposed”

    Why this matters
    The Post tells the reader that elevated tides and disappearing beaches are a broader threat leaving the coast "increasingly exposed", which describes a worsening trend, but gives no cause for it.
    The impression it gives
    A reader comes away thinking the coast is getting more exposed for no particular reason, or through bad luck with the weather.
    The context
    The article never mentions climate change, global warming or rising seas anywhere. Human-caused warming is documented, and it is loading the dice on extreme weather such as the tropical cyclones whose swells the article blames for stripping the sand.

    How we know

    • Checked against the whole articleIt never uses the words “climate” and “warming”.
    • On the recordIt is unequivocal that human influence, chiefly the burning of fossil fuels, has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land.ipcc.ch (opens in a new tab)
    • On the recordThat warming has made hot extremes, heavy rainfall, agricultural and ecological drought, fire weather and intense tropical cyclones more frequent or more severe.ipcc.ch (opens in a new tab)

    Show it in the article

    “successive hurricane-generated swells associated with Marie, Polo and Rachel, which have stripped sand from beaches, while an oceanic Kelvin wave is contributing to elevated water levels”

    Why this matters
    The Post ends the article by listing the causes of the flooding as hurricane swells and an oceanic Kelvin wave. Earlier it names only El Niño as amplifying the tides.
    The impression it gives
    A reader takes the flooding and erosion as the product of natural ocean and weather cycles alone.
    The context
    Warming has made intense tropical cyclones more frequent or more severe, and the article gives the reader no line saying so. It also carries no word on rising seas, so its last word on cause is natural variability only.

    How we know

    • On the recordThat warming has made hot extremes, heavy rainfall, agricultural and ecological drought, fire weather and intense tropical cyclones more frequent or more severe.ipcc.ch (opens in a new tab)
    • Elsewhere in the article“Elevated tides, amplified by the El Niño pattern”
    • Checked against the whole articleIt never uses the words “warming”.

    Show it in the article

    Written straight

    Hurricane swells from Marie, Polo and Rachel have stripped sand from beaches, and an oceanic Kelvin wave is raising water levels. Climate change is making storms like these more intense and coastal flooding like this more likely.

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