Multi-million dollar oceanfront properties in southern California’s Dana Point have been deemed safe to live in, despite a landslide that swept away most of the cliff beneath houses a few weeks ago.
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Historic storms flooded the Golden State in February, leaving homes in the town of Dana Point near Laguna Beach in a precarious situation.
These could fall at any time into the Pacific Ocean.
The grand coastal resort’s most expensive home is a four-bedroom mansion worth $15.9 million registered to 82-year-old radiology physician Lewis Bruggeman.
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“The house is fine, it is not threatened,” he told news station KCAL.
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He adds that “the City agrees that there are no major structural problems with the house.”
A geotechnical engineer and building inspector had visited one of the three mansions — the furthest from the edge — and found there was “no imminent threat,” according to CBS.
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He went to the scene to “assess the situation as well as to speak with the owner of the residence and the descent where the fall occurred,” he told CBS News.
The collapse of the Dana Point cliff followed heavy rains in southern California in early February, which caused landslides and flooding in the region.
Helicopter video footage showed that one of the cliffside homes appeared to be partially suspended in the air and the other two appeared dangerously close to the edge.
An immense pile of earth, sand and rocks has formed at the foot of the cliff, under the mansions.
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According to estimates from real estate company Redfin, the three adjacent homes are worth approximately $15.9 million, $14.1 million and $12.9 million, respectively.
Even though experts have certified these Dana Point properties as safe, additional work will need to be done to make them withstand future storms.
“Significant work will be necessary to stabilize this property,” said Kyle Tourjé, vice-president of Alpha Structural, an engineering company, at Washington Post.
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“I think we will continue to see more damage. Between two consecutive years of high saturation, these houses simply cannot withstand this kind of blow.”
Powerful storms that hit California are called ‘atmospheric rivers’ (pineapple express)causing incessant rains to sweep across the southwest.
Some deaths were reported, and hundreds of thousands of homes lost power.
