USA Olympian’s heartache as California home swallowed by ocean

Published: 09:30 EDT, 14 October 2026 | Updated: 09:30 EDT, 14 October 2026

A hopeful 2028 Team USA Olympian has been left devastated as Tropical Storm Rachel caused her home in California to be swallowed by the ocean.

Paris Porter, a 30-year-old hoping to sail in the upcoming Olympic games, shared a heartbreaking video on social media, revealing that her home had collapsed under the fierce ocean waters whipped up by the storm.

‘You know that house you constantly see half-crumbled in the news, drone shots and viral posts of the Long Beach Peninsula? Well, that was our home,’ Porter wrote.

‘Three hurricane swells in six weeks in Southern California? Unheard of…’

Long Beach Fire Department spokesperson Melanie Miller told the California Post: ‘The collapse began when [Hurricane] Marie came [in September] and it’s been building off of that.’

‘Then Hurricane Polo, now Rachel. It’s been continuous damage since then.’

Porter went on to say that the destruction of her home, which she rented with her husband RJ Porter, as well as those around her ‘breaks our hearts.’

Local officials distributed 7,600 sandbags in hopes of helping residents protect their properties.

Paris Porter, a 30-year-old hoping to sail in the upcoming Olympic games, shared a heartbreaking video on social media, revealing that her home had collapsed under the fierce ocean waters whipped up by the storm.

‘RJ and I started our life here. We went from engaged to married. We had family 3 blocks away. We made it a tradition to have Wednesday night dinners with family and friends every week. We watched numerous sunsets and had the view of a lifetime out those windows,’ she continued.

‘To see three storms undo a place that brought so much peace is devastating, especially knowing how deeply it impacts our neighbors who lost so much more. The peninsula will always hold a special place in our hearts.’

The couple shared that they had secured temporary housing for the next eight months ‘as we try and figure out what’s next.’

Porter, who’s brother is also a professional sailor, previously competed in the 2016 Olympic games in Rio de Janeiro and won bronze at the 2015 Pan American Games.

Over the weekend, Storm Rachel rained down on Southern California and left Long Beach’s century-old boardwalk battered by blistering winds and towering waves.

Chilling footage on Friday night showed towering swells crashing against a home in the 6500 block of Seaside Walk, reaching its second-story windows as sections of the building and broken pieces of boardwalk drifted into the ocean.

Other images showed floodwaters engulfing nearby side streets and patios, pouring into homes and properties left badly damaged.

‘It is not normal that we see this type of activity,’ Mayor Rex Richardson said on Saturday.

‘Just in this season, this marks the third hurricane in just six weeks. We saw Hurricane Marie over Labor Day, which was followed soon by Hurricane Polo, and now Rachel is bringing with it more high tides, more surf, erosion that continues to cause damage to properties and damage along our coastline.’

Porter went on to say that the destruction of her home, pictured above which she rented with her husband RJ Porter, as well as those around her ‘breaks our hearts’.

‘This is easily the most damage I have seen over the past couple of weeks,’ said KTLA’s Rich Prickett, whose crew captured the destruction from a helicopter overhead.

‘Now the entire boardwalk is just starting to shred away, and now some of these homes are being impacted even more severely,’ he added.

‘As you’re seeing this house right here that’s starting to crumble as that erosion just continues underneath the house.’

The National Weather Service issued a coastal flood warning on Friday afternoon for Los Angeles County beaches until 3pm on Sunday, as forecasters expected waves reaching four to seven feet.

‘It’s really heartbreaking to see how much has been affected with the surf and the high tides and everything. I mean, people are losing their houses,’ Stacey Sniezak, Long Beach neighbor, told ABC 7.

Local officials distributed 7,600 sandbags in hopes of helping residents protect their properties.

Miller added, however, that ‘you can only do so much during low tide.’

‘There are limited windows of opportunity, and the dynamics are working against you,’ she said.

Porter, who’s brother is also a professional sailor, previously competed in the 2016 Olympic games in Rio de Janeiro and has her sights on the 2028 Olympic games.

‘We’re looking at an unprecedented high tide, potentially 7.8 to 8 feet, which is significant for this area,’ Long Beach Fire Department Assistant Chief Jake Heflin said.

‘We’re not just talking about the peninsula, we’re not talking just about Naples, we’re talking about the potential for a citywide impact.’

Mayor Richardson said the city was taking the situation ‘very seriously,’ adding that it emphasized ‘an importance to be incredibly serious in our region and in our state around climate resilience and coastal resiliency.’

The Daily Mail reached out to Porter for comment.