Apartment Buildings Teeter On Edge Of Collapsing San Clemente Hillside

SAN CLEMENTE, CA — Four apartment buildings in a seaside San Clemente neighborhood were evacuated Wednesday morning after the hillside their homes were built on started collapsing, the Orange County Fire Authority reported.

After hours of assessing the hillside and the structural integrity of the buildings, three of the homes were red-tagged and deemed uninhabitable to live in, KCAL news reported.

Authorities were sent to the 1500 block of Buena Vista at 8:18 a.m. and immediately cleared the three buildings of residents. Later that day, a fourth building was deemed unsafe, yellow tagged and evacuated of its residents.

"We're coming up with a plan for what we're going to do next," OCFA Capt. Thanh Nguyen said of the agency's work with sheriff's deputies and city and utility officials.

"Our main concern right now is to evacuate everybody," Nguyen said. "We're closely watching the adjacent neighborhood here ... I would strongly encourage residents in the surrounding area to be prepared to evacuate should the [evacuation order] be extended."

Residents were urged to avoid the area.

In a photograph provided by the Orange County Fire Authority, patio furniture such as lawn chairs and canopies could be seen littering the steep hillside, and water could be seen pooling at the bottom of the hillside and in the city trail below.

The landslide prompted authorities to close Buena Vista from Avenida Florencio to Calle Colina, as well as the trail below the landslide area between North Beach and El Portal until further notice.

The landslide was reported less than a day after a state of emergency issued by Governor Gavin Newsom earlier this month in response to the onslaught of rain storms pummeling the Golden State was extended to Orange County.

The declaration of a local state of emergency will help the county seek aid for storm and other weather-related damages incurred over the deluge of storms.

It also comes after a landslide damaged several homes in a Newport Beach neighborhood on Friday, March 3, destroying one backyard and forcing several residents to move out of their homes.

No further information was immediately available.

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