Severe weather conditions led to heartbreak for Paris Porter, a sailor with sights set on the 2028 Summer Olympic Games. The Californian coast has been battered this month by Hurricane Rachel and Porter’s home in Long Beach was destroyed. Porter shared news of the devastation in an Instagram post, thanking friends and family for their support as she and her husband RJ deal with the unexpected upheaval to their lives. The 30-year-old had been renting the property as she targeted a spot at the Los Angeles games but has now had to find temporary accommodation at short notice.“You know that house you constantly see half-crumbled in the news, drone shots, and viral posts of the Long Beach Peninsula? Well, that was our home,” Porter wrote on Instagram, along with a broken heart emoji. “Three hurricane swells in six weeks in Southern California? Unheard of… You see, it was a glitch in the system. An ocean front 1 bedroom that had everything we could have ever wanted. As an Olympic sailor aiming for LA2028 I was steps away from my playground (maybe a little too close).”

“Although it’s true the Peninsula is home to many multi-million-dollar homes, our little community was far from that, and it was an absolute privilege to have lived there for a year and a half with awesome neighbors. Seeing the destruction, not only to our house but to everyone around us, breaks our hearts. We are renters and can get up and move, but the sense of stability this apartment gave us was everything to me.”

Porter previously competed at the 2016 Rio Olympics alongside British-born American sailor Helena Scutt. Her brother, Hans Henken, was a bronze medalist in Paris in 2024.