Crews build rock revetment at Point Dume Beach entrance Play

Construction went late into the night Tuesday in the wet sand, at what used to be the entrance to Point Dume Beach, across from the Sunset Restaurant. Crews working for the LA County Department of Beaches and Harbors are building a rock revetment — a rock wall, a jetty parallel to Westward Beach Road.

Tuesday night they were preparing to extend the rocks further up the beach where, up until this summer, there had been a wide sandy beach. There have been no communications yet from LA County Beaches and Harbors, and residents in the area are in the dark as to how far this rock revetment will extend up the beach to protect Westward Beach Road.

The scene early Wednesday morning was quiet, but Tuesday night under the emergency lights an excavator and other heavy equipment were scooping sand out of the way to place the rocks. It appears they were working in the dark to take advantage of the low tide. A large trench had been scooped out along the pavement right where the guard shack used to stand. Work stopped at some point during the night. Apparently they'll be back Wednesday morning and maybe for days to come.

Prior to this latest disaster repair, an emergency revetment was placed a year ago to protect the washed-out access road to the Point Dume parking lot, the lifeguard building and the restrooms. That wall is now being extended west and north up to what used to be the surf break called Barrels — named for the flood control culverts that drain the canyon along Birdview Street.

To the west, just up the beach from the drop-off area from the Sunset Restaurant, Westward Beach is looking pretty haggard. Also known as Free Zuma, that beach is now just 20 feet wide before it ends in an abrupt sand cliff about six or eight feet straight down to the tide line. It used to be 150 feet wide.

As one walks up the beach towards the Zuma Creek Lagoon, the beach does widen and flatten, but the eastern one third of Free Zuma is simply gone this summer and fall.

The sand may wash back ashore — that sometimes happens — but the high tides with El Niño and the Kelvin wave are certainly doing damage.