'Fighting time' in Pacifica: Erosion-prone coastal city displaces residents
Science
‘Fighting time’ in Pacifica: Erosion-prone coastal city displaces residents
Having the Pacific Ocean as your backyard has its benefits — and its dangers. Crumbling cliffs have forced dozens to leave their homes, and others may have to join them as El Niño-fueled storms batter the coast. Some residents in Pacifica, Calif., last month came home from work to find yellow “restricted use” tags on their front doors, which required them to start packing. At one apartment complex, continuing erosion has left the apartments sitting unsafely on the edge of an 80-foot bluff. Many forced-out residents say they feel abandoned, left alone to find money for moving, storage lockers and new housing in the pricey San Francisco Bay Area.
At some point and time we won’t be able to live here. These cliffs are primarily packed sand so they will no doubt crumble away.
Jackie James, who occasionally stays with her fiancé at an ocean-view apartment still safe to occupy
The Pacifica cliffs have been crumbling for decades. Sediment from watersheds that historically sustained these beaches and served to protect the cliffs has been greatly reduced by human activity, such as damming, flood control and dredging.
We’ve been fighting time.
Gordon King, a 73-year-old resident who lived in a cramped apartment with his wife
