Baby Diapers, Syringes and Furniture Wash up on SoCal Beaches After Storm, Advocacy Group Says

Several days of rain has led to piles of trash washing up on many of Southern California’s beaches. Aerial video from Sky5 showed one of the hardest hit coastlines was in Seal Beach Tuesday morning. Trash brought in from storm drains along the San Gabriel River can be seen up and down the beach, even after a tractor had apparently tried to clean up by pushing a large amount of garbage into a pile. The mouth of the river opens into the ocean, allowing products like strollers, baby diapers, syringes and furniture to wash up on shore, Tony Soriano with  Surfrider Foundation said.

Soriano told KTLA a couch even showed up recently. “We had people who surfed out here sitting on the couch … just making a joke out of it,” he said. Seal Beach resident Jamison Delfino said this type of thing happens far too frequently. “Every time it rains there’s just tons and tons of trash … anything you can think of,” Delfino said. Delfino says she no longer goes in the water but her husband does surf the area. “Every time he comes home he has to take a big shower, but he tries to avoid it after it rains,” she said. Efforts are made on a regular basis to keep the coast clean. Surfrider Foundation is having a beach cleanup event this Saturday, said Soriano. Anyone who wants to help was asked to meet at the parking lot on Anderson Street and Pacific Coast Highway. The cleanup effort will go on from 8 a.m. to noon, Soriano said. Save Our Beach also holds a monthly cleanup at Seal Beach on the third Saturday of each month. Volunteers can help between 9 a.m. and noon. The meeting place will be in the parking lot at the end of First Street, according to the organization’s website. Seal Beach is not alone in its fight against litter. Residents of several other beach communities, including Huntington Beach, face a similar battle every time it rains.