Pool dangles from California cliff after heavy rain sparks landslides

The Golden State has been hit by a string of powerful and damaging winter storms

Graeme Massie
Los Angeles
Thursday 16 March 2023 23:37 GMT
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Homes evacuated in San Clemente landslide

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A swimming pool was left dangling precariously after a California cliff suffered a dramatic landslide brought on by days of wet weather.

Four apartment buildings in the Orange County coastal city of San Clemente were evacuated after the landslide, which sent earth and debris tumbling down towards a rail track below.

Video footage posted on Twitter by the Orange County Fire Authority showed severe damage to the rear of the residences, with patio furniture thrown down the hillside.

(OCFA)

Some of the units were initially yellow-tagged, meaning they were accessible to residents before the city red-tagged them all.

No one was injured in the landslide, reported The Los Angeles Times.

“It’s not a surprise,” Captain Thanh Nguyen of the OCFA told KABC. “With the amount of rain that we’ve gotten and how much the landscape has been saturated with rain.”

(OCFA)

Resident Clayton Robinson told the station that he may have lost everything in the incident.

“It’s possible we’ve lost everything,” said Mr Robinson.

(OCFA)

“We called our insurance and they said, well, they don’t cover hills going down. So all we have left is our faith in God.”

California has been hit by a string of powerful and damaging winter storms that have seen “atmospheric rivers” bring heavy rain and flooding to the region.

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