ENCINITAS, CALIF. – A famous surfing beach closed Saturday after a cliff collapsed, sending tons of sandstone onto beachgoers and killing three humans.
A 30-foot-length slab of the cliff plunged onto the sand close to Grandview Beach north of San Diego. A KNSD-TV helicopter captured footage of seaside chairs, towels, surfboards, and seashore toys strewn about the sand.
Other beachgoers and lifeguards at a close-by tower scrambled to the towering pile of debris to assist in digging out victims.
“I saw first responders, and I saw lifeguards frantically digging humans out of the particles,” Jim Pepperdine, who lives close by, informed the San Diego Union-Tribune.
A female died on the scene, and two extra human beings later died at hospitals. Another man or woman was taken to a clinic, and a person who had minor accidents changed into handled on the scene, consistent with statements from the city.
Their names and ages had not been at once released. All the victims were adults, the government said.
Search dogs were introduced to hunt for other viable victims, and a bypass loader was added to transport the dense, heavy debris. No other victims were located by overdue Friday night.
The seaside is reached through wooden stairs from a car parking zone above. Homes atop the cliff were no longer in any danger, Encinitas Fire Chief Mike Stein said.
The cliff remained risky and complicated the hunt attempt, Stein said.
Rising oceans
The suburbs north of San Diego have contended with rising water tiers in the Pacific Ocean, pressuring bluffs along the coast. Some cliffs are fortified with concrete partitions to prevent multimillion-greenback homes from falling into the sea.
Long stretches of seashore in Encinitas are slim strips of sand among stiff waves and towering rock partitions. People lounging on seashore chairs or blankets are once in a while surprised as waves roll past them and within some feet of the walls.
Grandview Beach is fairly narrow, with tides excessive this week. Surfers lay their boards upright against the bluff.
Authorities said cliffside collapses are not unusual as the ocean chews away at the sandstone base. Some seaside regions have been marked with signs cautioning of slide dangers.
Earlier collapses
Several people had been killed or injured over the years in bluff collapses. The Tribune stated that Rebecca Kowalczyk, 30, of Encinitas, died close to the equal area on Jan. Sixteen, 2000, while a 110-backyard-wide chunk of bluff fell and buried her.
Bluffs provide way 4 to 8 times a year in Southern California; however, “nothing of this value,” said Brian Ketterer, southern field division leader of California State Parks.
