Enlarge image
Landslide on luxury villa near Dana Point: "To be honest, it looks much scarier than it actually is"
Photo: Jeff Gritchen / AP
The weather was not good in California. Two storms followed each other, the masses of water caused numerous slopes in the region to slide. Prominent victim: a luxury property in Dana Point, almost an hour and a half's drive south of Los Angeles, depending on traffic conditions. A landslide also occurred there, on the cliffs facing the Pacific.
And the villa on top of the cliff almost slipped. At least that's what it seems when you look at pictures of the cliffs.
However, the authorities have now given the all-clear. The multi-million dollar property and the neighboring homes are not in immediate danger, the city said in a statement on Wednesday. The city's building inspectorate inspected the residential buildings and a geotechnical engineer inspected the slip site: No immediate danger.
Well anchored in the rock
»There is no damage and no immediate threat to the building. "That's good news," Mayor Jamey Federico told the Los Angeles Times, continuing, "So, to be honest, it looks a lot scarier than it actually is."
“The house is built on caissons that are anchored in the rock,” adds city manager Mike Killebrew in the Orange County Register. However, for reasons of caution, the owner was advised to commission an appraisal.
The landslide destroyed the bushes facing the sea. According to the owner, the entire facility is 9,700 square meters in size and has an estimated value of almost 15 million euros.
More rain is forecast for Southern California, arriving late Sunday evening and possibly continuing into Wednesday.
Erosion is becoming a problem for the east coast of the USA: California's famous “Pacific Surfliner” train route is also threatened. The sea came dangerously close to the rails as early as 2022, when some of the tracks were washed out.
mgo/AP