US doctor refuses to leave luxury cliffside home even after storms cause severe erosion
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Mansions crouched on a California clifftop got a little bit closer to the edge when a landslide brought tons of rock and soil crashing into the sea.
PHOTO: AFP
Perched atop a cliff in Southern California and overlooking the Pacific Ocean are three multi-million dollar mansions that in normal times would be the envy of anyone.
But recent heavy rains have caused parts of the Dana Point cliff to collapse into the ocean, leaving these luxury homes perched precariously over a steep drop.
At least one resident there is staying put, after experts inspected and certified that the homes were stable and safe, according to media reports.
Dr Lewis Bruggeman, an 82-year-old radiologist, said he decided not to move out of his home as he had been assured by the city that his home does not face any immediate structural threats.
According to a report by The New York Post on Feb 25, Dr Bruggeman owns the most expensive of the three properties, a four-bedroom house worth US15.9 million (S$21.4 million).
“The house is fine, it’s not threatened and it will not be red-tagged,” Dr Bruggeman told CBS News in an interview on Feb 12.
City manager of Dana Point Mike Killebrew told CBS News that a building inspector and geotechnical engineer had gone to Dr Bruggeman’s home to assess the situation and concluded that there was “no imminent threat” to the premises.
The assessment also cleared the other two homes in the area, which are estimated to be worth around S$18.9 million and S$17.3 million, respectively, The Washington Post reported.
The inspections were done following severe storms that hit the Golden State earlier this month, which led to the Dana Point cliff’s partial collapse.
News platform ABC7’s helicopter captured video footage from the scene on Feb 13, showing a part of one of the houses perilously suspended in the air off the cliffside, with the remaining two houses very close to the edge.
While there is no imminent danger, experts say substantial stabilisation work is needed to prepare the properties for future storms.
“That’s going to need major, major work to stabilise that property,” executive vice-president of Los Angeles engineering firm Alpha Structural’s executive vice-president Kyle Tourje.
The inspections were done following severe storms that hit the Golden State earlier this month, which led to the Dana Point cliff’s partial collapse.
PHOTO: AFP
The Washington Post on Feb 23, reported that Mr Tourje indicated that the damage seen this year could be a sign of more serious issues to come if preventive measures are not taken.
“We’re seeing more damage, and I think we will continue to see more significant damage. Between back-to-back years of heavy saturation, these houses, these properties… they just can’t take this kind of beating.”
The recent landslides are part of a series of natural disasters that have plagued Southern California, highlighting the increasing challenges faced by homeowners in regions susceptible to extreme weather events.
On Feb 5, a deadly Pacific storm dumped torrential rain over Southern California, triggering street flooding and mudslides throughout the region.
Staggering rainfall and extreme weather continued a few more days after that, as Los Angeles municipal officials reported on Feb 7 that storm crews had responded to reports of hundreds of mudslides and toppled trees in the nation’s second-most-populous city.
