The storms have cleared, but our precious Southern California beaches are trashed.
All the rainwater flooded debris in gutters, storms drains and streets into rivers and streams like a dirty toilet, flushing pieces of trash straight into the ocean and onto local beaches.
Plastic bags and junk stretch as far as the eye can see. Birds and fish will mistake Styrofoam and other bits for food.
The good news is thousands of people will hit the beaches this weekend armed with gloves and trash bags to scoop up as much as they can.
And with coastal cleanups planned at various beaches in Southern California, there are ways to help.
Or you can simply take a walk on the beach and do your part, like longtime surfer Paul Tomson did on Friday morning during a 3-mile stroll in Huntington Beach.
“The only thing you can do is attack it,” said Tomson, who noted he saw a car tire among the piles of debris. “Everyone has to do their part.”
If you want to join others to help out, here are some organized beach cleanups to check out Saturday, Jan. 19.
Orange County
Save Our Beach/Seal Beach
Volunteers gather on the third Saturday of each month to help pick up trash that comes down the San Gabriel River, a non-profit founded in 1998 by Steve and Kim Masoner.
Since then, an estimated 150,000 volunteers have given a helping hand, logging 340,000 volunteer hours and collecting more than 380 tons of trash.
The mouth of the San Gabriel River funnels runoff from 52 inland cities straight into the ocean that borders Seal Beach and Long Beach.
The group meets at the First Street parking lot at 9 a.m., and the cleanup runs until noon. Wear tennis shoes if you plan on plucking debris out of the rock jetty.
Eco-Warrior Foundation/Aliso Beach, Laguna
As a longtime surfer and environmental advocate, James Pribram knows what to expect when volunteers hit the sand at Aliso Beach in Laguna Saturday morning — and he has a plan of action.
“We’re going to be putting together different groups and scatter them throughout Laguna,” said Pribram, who has hosted the cleanups for the past six years.
It’s not just the land people have to worry about. One of the most disheartening parts of the cleanup, Pribram said, is seeing the trash weaved into the kelp.
“That’s where you see the Styrofoam that collects among areas that are impacted,” he said. “That’s what birds and fish eat.”
He said one of the best parts of the cleanup is the camaraderie among volunteers. And you get free food for helping, courtesy of Chronic Tacos.
The cleanup happens at Aliso Beach Park, starting Saturday at 9 a.m.
Long Beach
Community Action Team/Rosie’s Dog Beach
Justin Rudd, organizer and founder of non-profit CAT and the monthly beach clean up, said about 150 volunteers come out each month to help clean up at Rosie’s Dog Beach, where pooches are welcome to join for the morning to romp around.
And volunteers can work up a sweat picking up trash, then jump in the chilly ocean.
The 8th annual Long Beach Polar Splash will happen after the 30-minute clean up, which kicks off at 10 a.m. Wetsuits are not allowed at the event, which always happens after the first cleanup of the year, but costumes are encouraged.
Rudd also asks participants to bring a pair of socks, which he will donate homeless people in need.
Like Seal Beach, much of the trash that flows down from the San Gabriel River will end up on the shore in Long Beach.
The cleanup is held at 1 Granada Ave. There will be refreshments from Duthie Power Services and Corner Bakery.
Los Angeles County
Heal the Bay/Torrance Beach
The “Nothin’ But Sand” monthly cleanup can get up to 1,000 volunteers in January.
Isabel Cardenas, beach programs manager for Heal the Bay, remembers last year’s cleanup after a storm, where there was everything from plastic containers, to cigarette butts to glass bottles.
“It’s much bigger trash you usually see because it comes down immediately from the storm drains,” she said.
Volunteers meet at 201 Paseo de la Playa, Torrance, at Miramar Park from 10 a.m. to noon.