San Clemente Bluff Slide Closes Coast Hwy., Mars 5 Yards

Part of a 20- to 30-foot bluff in San Clemente collapsed Tuesday morning, sending portions of five residential back yards tumbling onto Coast Highway and closing the heavily traveled coastal thoroughfare to traffic through this morning.

Patio decking and as much as 20 feet of real estate disappeared from back yards along La Ventana, leaving houses 50 to 60 feet from the new edge of the bluff. But no houses were immediately threatened and no injuries were reported, authorities said.

The landslide, which occurred at about 8:40 a.m., left an 8-foot deep, 30-foot long barrier along the northbound lane of Coast Highway about a quarter of a mile north of Camino Capistrano. Although homes on the bluff are in San Clemente, the state highway below is in Capistrano Beach, and workers from the Orange County Fire Department and Environmental Management Agency, from Caltrans and from San Clemente responded to the scene.

Highway Closure Forced

The slide forced closure of both highway lanes from Palisades Drive in Capistrano Beach to Camino Capistrano in San Clemente, and California Highway Patrol officers said the road probably would not be reopened until at least noon today because of the threat of more landslides.

“It doesn’t look like much, but then when you start digging down into it to get it out of here, it turns out to be a lot,” Craig Hunn, a San Clemente public works employee, said of the debris piled on the roadway.

About 500 cubic yards of earth fell, about the same amount that fell onto the highway several years ago at nearby Palisades Road, according to William Reiter, county public works operations manager.

About 40 loads were trucked away Tuesday before workmen quit for the night, Reiter said. Crews would resume work today, including knocking loose portions of the bluff that appeared about ready to collapse, he said.

“We haven’t had one like this for quite a while,” said San Clemente City Councilman Thomas Lorch, who came to view the damage. “The last big one we had in San Clemente. . . . That’s when they restriped (Coast Highway) from two lanes to one lane (in each direction). Now I’m sure it’ll stay that way.”

On Tuesday, workmen pulled down patio decking that was part of the back yard at 2819 La Ventana until it fell over the new edge of the bluff.

“Oh my God, you mean, my house?” owner Edward Makasjian, a 61-year-old retired real estate agent who alternates between living there and in Downey, said Tuesday when contacted by the Times.

“I saw something on the news this afternoon about this thing in San Clemente, but I didn’t know that my house was one of them.”

Even people living near the landslide were unaware anything had happened, so quiet was the collapse.

“I didn’t know anything about it until I was out in front and there were two ladies walking in front of one of the houses trying to see what was going on,” said Richard Vaughn, who lives on La Ventana three doors from the slide.

Part of Yard Lost

Gaylene Zaione, who lives at 2817 La Ventana, lost about 15 feet from the right side of her back yard. The slide undermined the foundation of a new patio, she said.

San Clemente reserve police were on guard at Zaione’s home to prevent sightseers from going into her back yard. Others were on Camino Capistrano and Coast Highway directing traffic.

Zaione said that when she moved into the house about a year ago she expected some minor slides, but nothing like this one. “I had three geology reports done,” she said.

Reiter said he doesn’t expect landslides around the area will cease.

“I think anybody that lives on this cliff is in jeopardy because, let’s face it, that cliff has been eroding for years, and it’s still going to be eroding for years to come.”

Road Closure Both lanes of the Coast Highway between Camino Capistrano and Palisades Drive will be closed this morning. Caltrans and county workmen will finish removing a piece of the bluff which has a crack.