Two tropical cyclones, rare in Southern California, in 1976 and 1977 hit this area. Hurricane Kathleen, the most powerful of these cyclones, rose the water levels of the sea overnight. After the businesses and homes closest to the sea were flooded, a berm was built around Bombay Beach to protect the structures that the water hadn’t reached yet. Unfortunately, the structures on the other side of the berm were left to corrode and eventually collapse into the sea.