Catastrophic Sea Bluff Collapse at Blacks Beach
“That whole mountain shifted.”
“Thunder only happens when it’s raining,” Stevie Nicks famously sang.
Today, after weeks of relentless rainfall, historic swell, and very high tides there was a chain of mudslides that sent Blacks Beach’s cliffs thundering down. This is the first sea bluff collapse of this size at Blacks since January of 1982.
“For about ten minutes, there were just chunks of rock falling, and then at some point, this huge column just started collapsing onto the beach. That whole mountain shifted. You could see it all washed out onto the beach… the sand piled up 30 feet high.” said one witness.
The San Diego Fire-Rescue department has admonished people to steer clear from cliffs in the area for obvious reasons. In 2019, three people died in a bluff collapse at nearby Grandview Beach in Encinitas. Thankfully, nobody was harmed in today’s incident at Blacks.
Rain here in Southern California is two-faced. It turns our coastal desert-scape from its usual brown scruffiness to a lush green. It fills our reservoirs and lessens the guilt of an unethically long shower. But it also causes widespread destruction.
A reminder that nature gives, but can damn sure take.
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