Newport Beach looked less like a beach town and more like an extension of the Pacific, or even a lake, this weekend. The flooding was almost incomprehensible. Aerial footage from the Balboa Peninsula shows block after block inundated with seawater after swell generated by former Hurricane Rachel combined with unusually high tides and already elevated ocean levels. Cars crawl through flooded intersections while water surrounds homes stretching inland from the beach. Near the Wedge, the situation was even uglier. Fast-moving seawater pushed into beachfront properties after waves overwhelmed massive protective sand berms. “This is the worst I’ve seen it in my 20 years on the Peninsula,” Newport Beach City Councilman Joe Stapleton told the Los Angeles Times . Officials said the swell arrived roughly twice as large as initially predicted, punching through 20-foot berms and flooding roads between roughly 21st and 6th streets. The city declared a local emergency Friday.…