Normally the water is black with sportsmen in wetsuits but on Sunday it was covered with a slick of crude oil.
In total, 24 km of coastline between Huntington Beach and Laguna Beach, famous beaches in southern Los Angeles known as much for their surfers as for their dolphins, have been closed to the public.
Fishing has also been banned due to the leak reported over the weekend from a nearby pipeline, which could reach 500,000 liters of crude oil.
Underwater inspections revealed that a large segment of the pipeline had been moved and detected a tear of about three inches in the pipe.
The point in pictures.
Director:
Olivier JUSZCZAK
Since the beginning of the disaster, several hundred people have been mobilized to clean up the legendary beach of Huntington Beach, called "Surf City" and famous to the point of appearing in a song by the Beach Boys.
In total, 24 km of coastline between Huntington Beach and Laguna Beach, famous beaches in southern Los Angeles known as much for their surfers as for their dolphins, have been closed to the public.
Fishing was also banned due to the leak which could reach 500,000 liters of crude oil.
Birds and dead fish, some with traces of oil, washed up on the beaches of Huntington Beach.
"It's weird not to see any surfer on the horizon, it's very rare," says Shawna Sakal, manager of a specialty store in Huntington Beach, south of Los Angeles.
Relief has mobilized fourteen specialized ships which have been busy recovering as much oil as possible since Sunday.
Some 18,000 liters had been extracted from the sea on Tuesday morning.
The cause of the incident has not yet been determined but an underwater inspection revealed that a large segment of the pipeline had been moved to the bottom of the water, and detected a tear of about three inches. in the pipe.
Investigations are underway to determine whether a freighter waiting for a mooring dock has not hooked the pipeline with its anchor.
"We pulled on the pipeline like a bowstring," Martyn Willsher, boss of Amplify Energy, the Texas company operating the pipeline and neighboring oil platforms, said at a press conference.
The oil spill affects the entire tourist industry in the area.
Despite the blue sky and the de rigueur palm trees, shops and restaurants remained almost empty Wednesday at midday.
A total of 23 oil and gas platforms are installed in federal waters in Southern California.
The disaster revived the debate on the presence of these oil platforms just a few kilometers from the coast of southern California, including the
jurisdiction ends about 5 km from the coast, where the federal state takes over.
California
United States
Oil spill
World
Beach
Planet