Malibu Slide Closes Coast Highway for 12 Hours

Hundreds of tons of rock and dirt collapsed early Sunday morning onto Pacific Coast Highway from a cliff near Topanga Canyon Boulevard in Malibu, forcing authorities to close a four-mile stretch of the busy coastal route for 12 hours and to redirect hundreds of beach-goers.

No one was injured by the 3:30 a.m. landslide, which sent boulders tumbling across the highway onto the southbound lanes, stopping just yards from more than a dozen coastal homes near Big Rock Drive. There was no property damage.

“I woke up and looked out on the porch and saw boulders rolling down,” said Leslie Gammel, who lives directly across from the slide. “It was incredible. I was worried that they were going to hit my car.”

Ron Raney, who also lives directly across from the slide, said he was awakened by the bulldozers removing debris, not by the slide itself. Still, he said, “It is scary living here knowing this kind of thing might happen anytime.”

A Caltrans geologist, who assessed the crumbling cliff Sunday afternoon from a Los Angeles County sheriff’s helicopter, discovered a “pretty good-size crack” above the slide that authorities fear could cause another major portion of the hillside to collapse onto the highway, Los Angeles Sheriff’s Sgt. David Anderson said.

Caltrans personnel began a 24-hour watch of the slide area shortly after the stretch was reopened to traffic by a California Highway Patrol escort about 4 p.m. The geologist determined that the fissure did not pose an “eminent hazard” to motorists, according to W. T. (Doc) Maloney, Caltrans chief of community relations.

“There is a good likelihood that there will be some continued activity,” Maloney said. “But there is no way to determine when.”

Closed About 4 a.m.

CHP officers closed the highway shortly after 4 a.m. Sunday between Topanga Canyon and Las Flores Canyon roads. Pedestrians were permitted to pass through the stretch, but bicyclists were forced to walk and cars were banned altogether.

Caltrans posted warnings about the closure on the Santa Monica Freeway, but hundreds of cars heading north from Santa Monica lined up, nonetheless, along Pacific Coast Highway.

Authorities said they considered evacuating residents from the area, but determined that the slide did not threaten homes along the highway or on cliffs overlooking the site.

Maloney said the cliff was difficult to stabilize and that officials did not reopen the highway until the rock debris was completely removed and the cliff was “settled.”

The slide was the first major one in two years in the Big Rock area, identified by Caltrans as a high-risk slide area, Maloney said. Unlike previous slides, which followed heavy rainfalls, Sunday’s collapse was probably caused by the lack of rain, he said.

“This can happen when it is dry and there is no adhesion in the soil,” he said.

Caltrans crews spent most of Sunday morning and afternoon clearing the dirt and rock from the northbound lanes of the highway and dumping it into the ocean near Moonshadows Restaurant.

Maloney said owners of the restaurant requested that the dirt and rock be dumped there to help buttress the coastline near the building.

CHP and Caltrans officials said a power outage along the highway and in Malibu was not caused by the landslide. The power outage, they said, occurred about an hour before the landslide when an alleged drunk driver crashed into a utility pole on Las Flores Canyon Road.

“The rumors were rampant that the power was out because of a massive slide from Las Flores Canyon Road to Topanga Canyon Road,” Maloney said. “There were no other slides.”