Two-mile stretch of O.C. beaches reopens after shark sightings

A two-mile stretch of Orange County coastline reopened Monday after several large sharks were spotted near the shore in Huntington Beach over the weekend.

A helicopter crew from the Orange County Sheriff’s Department spotted the sharks about 2 p.m. Sunday near Anderson Street in Huntington Beach, said Lt. Claude Panis with Huntington Beach Fire Department’s Marine Safety Division.

Lifeguards are keeping a stretch of shoreline between Sunset Beach and Bolsa Chica State Beach closed to swimmers and surfers after a shark sighting.

(Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times )

The closure came amid a sweltering heat wave that brought sizable crowds to Southern California’s shores and was just a week after a 52-year-old woman was attacked by a shark while swimming off the coast of Newport Beach.

The sharks seen by deputies were at least 8 feet long and about 150 yards from the shore, Panis said.

Sunset Beach in Huntington Beach and the adjoining Surfside Beach in Seal Beach were closed to swimmers and surfers for the rest of the day Sunday but reopened by 10:30 a.m. Monday, city officials said.

A Huntington Beach city helicopter surveyed the ocean Sunday afternoon and also found three sharks that measured about 10 to 12 feet, Panis said.

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UPDATES:

11:10 a.m.: This article was updated with news that the beaches have reopened.

This article was originally published at 7:10 a.m.