LA Road Collapses in Mudslide

A 600-foot stretch of a Los Angeles coastal roadway has slid into the sea following heavy rains. A chasm 75 feet deep opened in Paseo del Mar as a huge mass of asphalt and earth slipped away in seconds from the top of a 100-foot bluff to the Pacific shore in the San Pedro region. No one was hurt, but the collapsing road took power cables, street lights and utility poles down with it as it tumbled to the ocean. "This entire coast along here is a cliff, so nature has created a new cliff," a city engineer told the Los Angeles Times.

The road was closed months ago when fissures first developed, and area residents had been warned to stay away from the surrounding area ahead of the storm. LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa warned gawkers to steer clear of the site. "The landslide area remains unstable and presents a life-threatening hazard," he said. A geotechnical consultant is being hired for $100,000 to begin soil testing to determine how to rebuild the roadway. (More Paseo del mar stories.)