Dreams Slip Away in San Clemente : Storms: Crews begin demolishing coastal homes that slid after heavy rains. The cash-strapped city is struggling to repair public facilities.

As the crew began demolishing his $400,000 ocean-view home of 10 years on Thursday, Louis Ecker still had his sense of humor, if nothing else.

“I think the Lord got us mixed up with someone else,” Ecker, 77, said laughing. “I think I was supposed to win the lottery. The odds are about even.”

In this case, the odds involved his home--one of thousands along the Southern California coast--getting so badly damaged by the torrential rains this month that there was no choice but to call in a wrecking crew.

Ecker’s 31-year-old home was the first of a number in San Clemente that will be demolished in coming weeks, city fire officials said. So far, 14 structures have been declared uninhabitable, but only six are deemed too far gone to be saved.

Since Jan. 18, Ecker’s house has slipped more than 50 inches toward another home on the hillside below and has split in two from the movement, with a portion of its concrete slab protruding in the middle of the dining room.

This is not the first time disaster has visited Ecker.

Last summer, a rental home he owned in Big Bear sustained about $10,000 in damage from the earthquakes centered near there.

“Mother Nature is after him,” joked Jim Boehm, Ecker’s son-in-law. “He’s not running fast enough.”

Inspectors counted 342 places other than homes or buildings--including walkways, parking lots and back yards--that suffered landslide damage in San Clemente during the storms. Twelve public facilities, ranging from storm drains to beach access routes, need significant repairs, authorities said.

“Everywhere we go, we just keep finding more and more problems,” City Engineer William Cameron said.

The City Council on Wednesday approved another $125,000 to make emergency storm-drain repairs, a move that depleted the financially stretched city’s small budget reserve. That was on top of $150,000 for repairs the council authorized last week.

“If ever there was a need to go into our rainy day fund, this is it,” City Manager Michael W. Parness said.

A heavily traveled one-mile stretch of Pacific Coast Highway remains closed because of rain damage, making it harder for residents to reach isolated businesses and get across town.

Officials expect to reopen the road by the end of next week, although that hinges on the condition of three homes perched on the unstable bluffs above the highway, Cameron said.

At Ecker’s property, crews expected to take about four days to tear down the three-bedroom house. Most of the work will be done by hand because city officials will not allow heavy equipment on the neighborhood’s unstable hillsides.

The heavily damaged house next door also will probably be demolished, city officials said.

Though Ecker’s insurance company is paying the estimated $10,000 to $17,000 cost of the demolition, he does not expect to receive additional insurance compensation for the loss of his home.

However, Ecker, a retired concrete contractor, is hopeful that he will receive federal disaster aid.

“We’ll just play it by ear,” he said. “I’d like to rebuild, but it’s pretty much up to what the geologists say.”