bulkhead

It also found design standards to be "poor with all the vessels lacking watertight bulkheads, doors and hatches".

The city undertook an emergency project to install two new bulkheads to repair washouts from the storm, with construction costs totaling nearly $4.9 million, according to a report from the Los Angeles Bureau of Engineering.

“That’s solid sheet metal you ’ave there behind the wood on them bulkheads,” came the voice in rather an odd accent.

But to the naked eye, they had the charm of a bulkhead door leading to a scary basement.

Now, climate models predict another 15-inch rise by 2050, and beachfront homeowners are risking legal trouble hurrying to build taller walls and bulkheads to protect their properties, even as the state pushes for softer measures.