El Niño Erosion Leaves Pacifica Apartments On The Brink Of Collapse

Holy crapola~ man, The coast is just crumbling! They are blaming El Niño. Some of the residents are refusing to vacate!!!!!

Is this the norm for the west coast? Will we continue to see this activity until "the Big One" hits? The video is quite persuasive.

I believe I would be gone asap. These poor folks, I just wonder if there is "cliff collapsing" insurance, or will all these folks be SOL?

California apartments with commanding views of the Pacific are now in danger of collapsing into the ocean.

Erosion blamed on El Niño rains is tearing away at the cliffs of Pacifica, just outside San Francisco. Drone footage shows how volatile the situation is, and how close to the literal edge some apartments are:

El Niño ~

a reply to: ReadLeader

Yes it's the norm.
Those hills are sand and should never really have been built on. Back in 98 same problem down around Laguna, IIRC the building code called for new construction to have 100 ft or more cement pilings to anchor dwellings.

a reply to: ReadLeader

Here are 2 complexes. And none are reporting any issues on their websites as of yet.

www.landsendapts.com...

www.woodmontrentals.com...

Lands End and Sea Cliff as names for these apartments seems ironic. Sorry for the occupants.
If you have Google maps or rather. Go have a look. But there is no support other than just dirt. These places should not have been built.

el nino got us here in cali too

a reply to: Bigburgh

SO!!! The apartments are going on 'business as usual", and not informing the public that their homes are not livable?



thanks for posting

You built you homes on the side of a hill and are upset about landslides?
That's like being upset my boat got wet.

a reply to: ReadLeader

I have no idea why they are blaming El Niño for this situation.

The buildings were constructed on a sedimentary cliff, not an igneous or metamorphic cliff, and one facing the sea no less, rather than just an edifice in the middle of a landmass. Regardless of the weather patterns at play, this section of coastline was always going to be battered by waves, and tidal erosion is powerful stuff. Even cliffs made of much sterner material than the sandy deposits of Pacifica would eventually relinquish their form to those waves below, cutting away over time at them, driving water into every crevice, and splitting the rock apart over generations.

It was simply stupid, however, to construct these buildings on this sandy cliff, because of all the materials one could build upon, sedimentary material is the quickest to collapse under the weight of the structure, and indeed the erosion of the waves, waves which would come no matter whether it was an El Niño year or not.

To make this work they would have needed to errect a concrete structure on the beach down there to act as a break/cliff support. drill pylons deep underground, etc.
It would have been not cost efficient

construction sites get in trouble if there is no silt fence on bare ground with a slope of a couple percent.

a reply to: TrueBrit

"The wise man built his house upon the rock"


MTE, True


thanks for posting

a reply to: SkepticWarlord

Yes, here is So Cali, we only had 3 days of pouring down rain, but with the drought and burn areas we have only had a taste of what is (supposedly) coming in the next few months. It was a mess in areas.

Southern California... mostly dry. When it is dry, houses burn.
When it rains, hillsides collapse and houses tumble.
Then there are earthquakes.

Par for the course in coastal California. They don't seem to learn out there that hillside/cliffside geology is not a friend to dwellings. Of course, if people are willing to pay out the nose for those homes & the insurance on them (hope those renters have renters insurance!) then whatever. It's their eventual loss.

a reply to: TrueBrit

But dude, the view is awesome!

a reply to: Phage

The view is awesome, and for a couple of hundred dollars, an owner of a property further back from the edge can enjoy exactly that view, without imminent risk of losing their investment.

a reply to: TrueBrit

lol.. couple hundred dollars? This is the bay.. you're probably talking a couple thousand . House prices here are.. well, insane is one word..

a reply to: ReadLeader

I seen it, incredible soo sad when people can see that the earth is crumbling under them and they just stay on denial and refuse to leave the place until is too late, I hope they stay safe.

You know we humans are funny in that way, we build on the water, love to hang on cliff and often forget is not man the one that dictate nature but nature dictate itself.

a reply to: Inannamute

Haha! I see! What I meant was, that if they lived just a little further back, they could spend a couple of hundred dollars on a telescope, and get the same veiw!

Those particular cliff-edge structures look doomed. Those should never have been built there. Look at it in Google Earth, 37°39'10 N, 122°39'35 W.

It could be worse, though. They could be having to deal with erosion plus sea level rise.

Sad that this house built in 1980 in Florida is only accessible by boat now. Check out the changes in Google Earth's historical pictures; 25°50'43 N, 81°40'50 W. Used to be a few other homes out there, too.

We have always suffered from erosion by the sea. I went by a pretty place called Hall Sands a village occupied since 1600. Part of it disappeared into the sea during one stormy night.

I suspect anyone living in those blocks is in imminent danger - its do you want to be tipped into the sea with the debris or not sadly?

originally posted by: ReadLeader
a reply to: TrueBrit

"The wise man built his house upon the rock"

Except when The Rock is Dwayne Johnson, now that is going to be very foolish!