Calif Cliff Collapse, Homes' Landslide Risk

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​Calif Cliff Collapse: Residents Find Backdoors To Homes Falling Into Sea - A Calif. cliff is near collapse as many residents in Pacifica are being forced to leave their homes. The cliff side residents found the ground outside their backdoors falling into the sea, and the city has declared a state of emergency amid concerns that streets were also at risk to erosion, according to CBS News.

“El Nino is hitting the city’s coastline very hard and creating almost daily reports of impacts to both public and private property,” city Manager Lorie Tinfow said in a statement. Drone video of an apartment complex teetering on the edge of a cliff, shows mounds of ground breaking off and collapsing the side of the cliff as it falls into the ocean.

Mike Cully, Pacifica’s chief building official, said residents could collect their belongings from the apartments but were not permitted to continue living in the building. On Monday, city officials ordered residents to evacuate the apartment complex on Esplanda Drive along the coast.

The Calif. cliff collapse is only worsening by the day. Officials believe it is only a matter of days before the once highly-sought residences go crashing into the sea. Despite the growing danger, some residents are reluctant to leave.

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“Cavities in the bluff are forming to the south, west and north of the building, and these critically over-steepened slopes are anticipated to fall back … in the next several days,” Cully said. About 20 apartments have been condemned so far.

“We have no clue on where we’re going to go. I just moved in. I just got my place,” resident Monica Montoya, who must vacate her apartment. “Finally got my housing, and now I have to move out.”

The Red Cross and Pacifica Resource Center are standing by to assist those forced out of their homes. “El Niño is hitting the city’s coastline very hard and creating almost daily reports of impacts to both public and private property,” Pacifica City Manager Lorie Tinfow said.

“You guys are going to have to physically drag me out. I’m not leaving,” Michelle McKay told the police. “I’m not worried about what I see out the back. I’m worried about these guys coming here and telling us we can’t live here, we can’t sleep here tonight.”

This isn’t the first time Pacifica residents have dealt with evacuations due to erosion. In 1998, El Nino storms resulted in one home collapsing into the sea, and others demolished before they followed suit. At least one Calif. cliff home collapsed into the ocean during the El Niño year, and several others were demolished before they, too, collapsed.