Sewage Spill in Laguna Closes 1 Mile of Beach

A sewage spill has prompted the closure of about a mile of ocean off Laguna Beach at least through Wednesday, health officials said Monday.

The ocean was declared closed to swimmers from Divers Cove south to Thalia Street after the 9 a.m. Monday spill from a sewer collection line near Milligan Drive and Laguna Canyon Road.

Tree roots blocked the line, causing about 10,500 gallons of raw sewage to spill from a manhole into the gutter, said Larry Honeybourne, program chief of the county Health Care Agency’s water quality section.

By erecting a sandbag dam around the area, he said, the city was able to recover about 7,500 gallons of the sewage. But 3,000 gallons may have made its way along a flood control creek through Laguna Canyon onto the city’s Main Beach, he said.