Southern California’s ocean just rewrote the record books. And in Newport Beach, the consequences are spilling across the streets.

On Tuesday, October 27, the NOAA tide gauge at San Pedro reached approximately 8.18 feet, surpassing a century-old monitoring station’s previous record of 7.93 feet from 2005. Farther south, the National Weather Service called La Jolla’s 7.98-foot reading “a preliminary all time record at this site.” Santa Barbara also registered record water levels.

These are measurements above a tidal reference point, not eight-foot-deep floods. Still, the impact on land has been extraordinary.…