City employees and heavy equipment could be heard working through the night, nearby residents said, in an effort to protect homes from expected high surf in Long Beach on Saturday, October. 6, 2018. (Photo by Brittany Murray, Press-Telegram/SCNG)

Residents gather on the sand to look at the progress city employees made overnight to protect their homes from expected high surf in Long Beach on Saturday, October. 6, 2018. (Photo by Brittany Murray, Press-Telegram/SCNG)

City employees and heavy equipment could be heard working through the night, nearby residents said, in an effort to protect homes from expected high surf in Long Beach on Saturday, Oct.6, 2018. (Photo by Brittany Murray, Press-Telegram/SCNG)

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Barbara Williams looks out over the berm in Long Beach on Saturday, October. 6, 2018. City employees worked overnight and into Saturday morning to protect the shoreline homes from expected high surf. (Photo by Brittany Murray, Press-Telegram/SCNG)



Crews using heavy equipment worked in Long Beach and Seal Beach to protect property along the coastline, as high surf was expected in Orange, Los Angeles and Ventura counties this weekend.

The National Weather Service put out a high surf advisory, which remains in effect until 5 p.m. Sunday, Meteorologist David Sweet said.

Surf is expected to reach four to seven feet over the weekend, with local sets reaching as high as nine feet. The high surf will mainly affect exposed south-facing beaches with a peak Saturday morning, Sweet said.

In Orange County, Newport Beach and Huntington Beach would be most affected, forecasters said.

“The effects we’re expecting include minor coastal flooding and beach erosion near times of high tide,” Sweet said, adding the high tide of concern was about 8 p.m. Saturday evening, Oct. 6 when surf could reach six feet.

A high risk of rip currents was also present and experts recommended swimmers stay close to a lifeguard station.

“If (swimmers) are caught, we would recommend they swim parallel to the shore until they get out of the rip current and then swim toward shore,” Sweet said.

Swimmers should also face the shore and notify a lifeguard by waving or shouting, Sweet said.

Though the high surf advisory ends at 5 p.m. Sunday, experts warned more high surf could show up late next week on Friday and Saturday.

As of Saturday at 6:30 p.m., fire departments in Long Beach, Seal Beach, Huntington Beach and Newport Beach had not seen any damage to homes or property as a result of the high tide.

Friday morning in Seal Beach, officials noticed some minor flooding along roads south of the pier that border the beach, said Capt. Steve Concialdi with the Orange County Fire Authority.

Seal Beach-Due to large swells & high surf impacting South Facing Beaches yesterday & today, OCFA, SB Marine Safety & SB Public Works developed a plan to prevent flooding. Yesterday, one of OCFA’s dozers created an 8 foot berm south of the pier & it held overnight w/ no flooding. pic.twitter.com/dYXcNGJl2C — OCFA PIO (@OCFA_PIO) October 6, 2018

Friday evening, Orange County Fire Authority, Seal Beach Public Works and Seal Beach Safety used a bulldozer to put up a sand barrier along the beach, which was 1,000 to 1,200 feet long and 8 feet wide.

Concialdi said on Friday evening and Saturday morning, high swells reached the barrier, which held up and prevented any water from coming through.