2 Patios Damaged; 3 Homes Periled as Slope Collapses
A steep slope collapsed below a row of houses overlooking the Shorecliff Golf Course in San Clemente, heavily damaging two patios and leaving three other houses perched on the edge of a 40-foot vertical drop, city officials said Thursday.
The city is considering a recommendation by a geological firm that eight homes be evacuated.
The landslide, which involved several thousand cubic yards of earth, occurred about 10 p.m. Wednesday, according to residents in the 200 block of Via Alegre, a neighborhood of homes valued at between $180,000 and $200,000.
There were no injuries, but gas and water lines were turned off as a precautionary measure. Electricity remained on. There was no immediate estimate of the cost of the damage.
Fire Chief Tom Dailey said the city contracted with Leighton and Associates of Irvine to determine the cause of the slide and advise whether it is safe for the affected homes to be occupied.
The last major slide in San Clemente destroyed 10 homes on Dec. 30, 1983, in Verde Canyon, about two miles from the site of the incident Wednesday.
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