Long Beach braces for yet another day of high tides after record flooding Long Beach and other coastal communities are grappling with persistent high tides and flooding caused by El Niño and storm-related effects. Local officials are working tirelessly to manage the rising water levels, while residents and businesses adapt to the new reality of frequent flooding. Despite the challenges, some areas are seeing a slight improvement in conditions, and innovative solutions like sand berms are helping to protect vulnerable properties. Enduring another day of flooded streets and neighborhoods, Long Beach and other coastal communities posted more record high tides on Wednesday, Oct. 28, spurring residents to wonder if rising waters are the daily norm amid forecasts of an unusually wet season. Local officials said they are working 24-7 to respond to ongoing El Niño and storm-related impacts - filling sand bags, building sand berms and running pump systems around the clock - which have brought highest-ever tide levels and deepening erosion fears for weeks.Living with New Normal Tides"It's just something that we've come to accept that this is the new normal around here," said Long Beach business owner Matt Chernus. "It's probably going to be something to deal with for the long term … we're checking the tides every day and if we see anything that's over 6.5 or 7 feet, we know it's going to hit the restaurant and we need to prepare.Wednesday would be the first day Chernus' restaurant, Grill 'Em All would be open since high tides flooded part of the dining room on Monday, he said. The extra water has caused big trouble in low-lying coastal areas the past few days, where harbor water has spilled over low seawalls and flooded into streets, homes and businesses in Los Angeles and Orange County coastal communities. But conditions improved a bit on Wednesday.In Long Beach, flooding returned to Peninsula, Naples Island, Alamitos Bay, Belmont Shore and Colorado Lagoon. Minor flooding was reported in Redondo Beach on, easing up from the rising waters that swamped the city's pier on Tuesday. A tide gauge in San Pedro reached 8.02 feet Monday, topping the previous record of 7.93 feet set Jan. 10, 2005. Swamped streets continued in some areas of Malibu.Orange County Water Levels DropAnd Orange County cities, socked by record tides for days now, reported waters inching lower. Amid the rising waters, Chernus' business stayed open, though. After weekend flooding, the city's Marine Bureau team built sand berms in front of the eatery, which sits at the waterfront of Bayshore Beach, which prevented any flooding the past two days, Chernus said."But again, just super excited that the city came through with these sand berms," he. "They've been adding to them every day, so as long as we got them on our side helping us mediate the situation, I think we'll be fine in the future…we're just happy to be open today." High tide was observed at 8.08 feet Wednesday between 10:20 a.m. and 11:20 a.m. in Long Beach - down a bit from Tuesday - and is expected to drop two-tenths of a foot Thursday.