Beachfront homes line the Southern California coastline and bluffs, offering multi-million dollar views out to the blue Pacific, where the sun dips daily down into the ocean’s colorful horizon.
But that access to the beach’s beauty comes at a price: the risk of water, whether it’s the unpredictable sea battering the shore and any properties in its way or, like this winter season, the relentless rains that have been causing havoc up and down the state.
Much attention in recent years has been on beachfront homes in danger of flooding with big swells and high tides, especially as sea-level rise is expected to exacerbate the threat of the ocean overtaking coastal areas. But this wet winter, the spotlight has shifted to properties atop hillsides made vulnerable by saturation.
In Newport Beach, a home atop a cliff overlooking the Back Bay was demolished this week after its patio slid down a slope – two more remain yellow-tagged out of concern. Four apartment buildings on a bluff in San Clemente had to be evacuated on March 15 after an earth shaking landslide dropped decks down a hillside and onto a beach path below.
They were deemed so unstable, renters had only a few hours to grab their belongings before they were red-tagged. Another landslide in Dana Point that same day, following a heavy rainstorm that battered through the night, shut down Coast Highway for the second time this winter season.
A 200-feet section of hillside in Palos Verdes Estates collapsed in December, causing a stretch of beach to close and some homes to be evacuated. The city hopes a $33 million project will help secure the bluff, though the large-scale project needs grant money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. A public hearing for that project is coming up March 21.
County, state and federal agencies have declared official state of emergencies, hoping to give some relief to the communities, residents and homeowners. Orange County was added this week, but Los Angeles County…
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