Excavators build a sand wall as the sea floods Newport Beach's peninsula
Annette Arreola's live report pairs heavy equipment on the shoreline with towed cars, flooded garages and a longtime local who had never seen Balboa Boulevard like this.
NBCLA
Story of Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 465,167 views a day, 99 times a normal first day on this channel (4,714).
Knee-deep water in Newport Beach prompts emergency declaration
"Knee-deep water in Newport Beach prompts start of emergency declaration" is a short Today in LA report on NBCLA, the channel of NBC's Los Angeles station. Annette Arreola stands on the sand on Saturday morning and then steps out of the frame, because the story is behind her: excavators piling up a berm, trying, in her words, to "keep all that ocean water out of the streets in Newport."
The flooding itself comes in aerial and street-level shots. Roads around Balboa Boulevard are underwater, cars are towed from the flooded streets, and garages are filled with water. "Main Street, Balboa, was knee-deep in water as well," Arreola reports. Donny Dumain, a former Newport Beach resident, traces the flooding along Balboa Boulevard from 20th Street and adds, "And I've never seen it flooded like this at all." Arreola says officials are calling it an extreme event and pointing to El Niño, and that residents have received phone alerts about the elevated tides still to come.
The Short passed a quarter of a million views in nine hours, while an NBCLA Short usually gets a few thousand across its whole first day. The comments moved even faster. Much of the conversation is about the sand: whether a loose berm can hold back the Pacific, or whether it simply buys time. Other viewers point out that this is seawater, warning about rust in cars, sewers and streetlight poles, and a few thank Arreola for getting out of the camera's way.
The station had covered the flooding from the night before. Darsha Philips' 11 p.m. report on stranded cars and water entering homes also drew an unusually large audience, as did a forecast following Tropical Storm Rachel's path north from Mexico. Two weeks ago, as we reported here, a surf warning from Hurricane Polo was the big draw on this channel. This time the water reached the streets.
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What viewers say
Kudos to Annette for stepping out of the way so that the camera could capture the action on the beach. You're a true professional.
@larryo5413See it on YouTubeI built sandcastles on this beach this year, before the flooding. As a professional, I am alarmed. The one rule of sandcastles is that the ocean always wins! good luck, so cal
@mlijah2730See it on YouTubeNot just “water” ….. SEA WATER. Its going to destroy everything. The sewers will rust the cars will rust, underground conduit will rust, streetlight poles, everything.
@jamesb3067See it on YouTube
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- Channel
- NBCLA
- Subscribers
- 424,000 ▲ 2,000 this week
- Channel views, last 7 days
- 6,681,683
- Channel views, pace per day
- 748,435 (on a normal day: 773,603)
- Video published
- October 10, 2026
- Video views so far
- 263,156 (less than a day online)
- Video views, pace per day
- 465,167
The numbers
The figures show a Short that left the station's usual first day far behind within hours, with a comment section far busier than normal.
💡 Test your knowledge
Officials in the report point to El Niño. What does the Spanish name El Niño mean?
El Niño means "the little boy" in Spanish, often linked to the Christ child because the warming was noticed around Christmas, while its cool counterpart is La Niña, "the little girl."