Angels Gate is breakwater entrance toward Port of L.A. Queens Gate is breakwater entrance toward Long Beach. A Long Beach breakwater section also extends eastward toward the Peninsula/Alamitos jetty.

Our sources are currently uncertain if the damages extend eastward/southward toward the eastern (Peninsula) Long Beach end of the breakwater...where some have suggested reconfiguring that breakwater section to increase tidal flow for cleaner water and possibly restore some wave activity.

LBREPORT.com's source (unofficial) indicate there are at least three gaps in the Angels Gate/Queen Gate (middle breakwater section) of the breakwater. The damages to the Angels Gate/Queens Gate were considered so significant that a federal team (reportedly including some representatives of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers) was dispatched to inspect the breakwater on Friday (Aug. 29). The federal team reportedly took photographs and will be preparing a report on what it found.

One unofficial source says some gaps in the breakwater are apparent but to an uncertain depth to an ordinary viewer. The source estimates some of dislodged breakwater boulders are over 30,000 pounds [caveat: figure unconfirmed] and says the hurricane swell tossed some breakwater rocks around "like tiddlywinks."

As previously reported by LBREPORT.com, at midday on Aug. 27, LBREPORT.com Community Correspondent Dan Halverson sent LIVE VIDEO from the Peninsula as he observed some offshore cargo ships turned to face on the oncoming surges stern-to-bow in a north/sound direction. Mr. Halverson also reported clearly seeing swells produce whitecaps as the sea struck the breakwater...and flowed over the top of the breakwater toward the shore.

At midday Aug. 27, the Port of LB said two cargo terminals -- but not all terminals -- suspended vessel operations due to [PoLB text] "10- to 15-foot high wave surges powered by Pacific Hurricane Marie [which] endangered longshore workers. Total Terminals International on Pier T, with two Mediterranean Shipping Co. container ships at berth, and Crescent Terminals on Pier F, with two break-bulk ships including a MOL roll-on, roll-off vessel at berth, stopped working the ships late Tuesday."

[PoLB text]...There was flooding reported at Crescent. All other terminals at the Port of Long Beach remain open for vessel operations, and trucking operations at all terminals, including at TTI and Crescent, are also continuing and unaffected by the wave surges...

The surges were so powerful Tuesday night [Aug. 26] that heavy rocks from the Navy Mole breakwater were tossed onto the nearby roadway. Road damage was reported on Nimitz Road near the Sea Launch satellite-launch vessels, closing the roadway pending repairs. Sea Launch employees were being escorted through the nearby TTI terminal to get to their offices...The Port's Harbor Department Maintenance Division was working to clear the rocks from Nimitz Road, while the Construction Management Division was evaluating needed repairs. When the road would re-open has yet to be determined. In addition, two barges broke loose from their anchorage overnight Tuesday, and were later towed and docked at berths T136 and T134. A pleasure craft also had to be towed to safety. No injuries have been reported.

LBREPORT.com reader John Deats reported today (Aug. 31) seeing some damage within the Port itself visible from the area of Pier F Ave. Mr. Deats says he saw rip-rap rock that lines Pier F Ave. moved some 20-40 feet into the water.

The federal government built the breakwater in the 1940's, mainly to protect the U.S. Navy's once-major/now-former LB presence.. (We stop short of saying the breakwater damages are unprecedented but locals with whom we've spoken don't recall anything quite like this the structure's roughly 70 year history.)

The Long Beach Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation has cited benefits in restoring waves to bring recreational and tourism benefits. "With the closure of the U.S. Navy base, the Long Beach breakwater has lost its original purpose. It’s time to get rid of the breakwater and bring back our beach community," its website says Public support gradually built and, amid some controversy, the Long Beach City Council several years ago voted to support (and commit a portion of Tidelands revenue) for a Corps of Engineers feasibility study into possibly reconfiguring part of the breakwater to increase tidal flow, cleanse local waters and possibly restore some waves...provided Port infrastructure and nearby homes remain protected. The feasibility study is currently stalled over issues including federal funding. Proposals to modify the breakwater have been warily watched, and in some cases opposed, by some Peninsula and Naples area homeowners.

Prior to the breakwater, Long Beach had sizable waves. In the 1930's, the city hosted a surfing championship. With the arrival of hurricane Marie's Aug. 2014 swells, some locals cheered, shot video and brought surfboards to ride the modest breakwater attenuated waves as city crews scrambled to build sand berms and attach a plywood wall to the Peninsula boardwalk to keep the sea away from Peninsula residents' homes.

In adjacent Seal Beach beyond the breakwater's reach, the hurricane swell combined with high tides to produce 15-20 foot waves...and sent the Pacific Ocean into some beachfront residences.