Yikes! Local ‘Jaws’ scare as 8-foot shark threatens Newport Beach

On October 8-9, a stretch of ocean off Huntington Beach was closed when a roughly 10-foot shark was spotted by a surfer.

Waters along two miles of Newport Beach have been reopened after hours of closure due to a sighting of a hammerhead shark.

But lifeguards also saw the shark circling near the end of the pier, Halphide said. That prompted officials to close the beach from 10th Street to 4oth Street – about a mile in either direction from where the shark was seen, Newport Beach lifeguard spokesperson Jennifer Manzella said.

Madison Newsom was walking at the beach with her mother and father when they heard someone say “get out of the water”, she told KTLA. Lifeguards said they probably will use a helicopter to see if the shark is still in the area.

The beach was closed out of an “abundance of caution”, Mike Halphide, the battalion chief for the Newport Beach lifeguards, said.

Officials will reevaluate the closure in the midafternoon.

Another hammerhead sighting, another SoCal beach closure.

In early September, a hammerhead shark bit the leg of a kayaker in Malibu causing minor injuries, while another one was caught on the line of a fisherman in the area later that month.

“You’ve got a whole tropical food chain that’s moved into our neighborhood”, he said.