That’s a corner of the pool hanging over the edge.

On Friday afternoon, September 11, 2015, there was a cliff collapse inside the cove at Tourmaline Surfing Park. Normally this type of landslide is a clear reminder to the locals to not sit up close next to the cliffs at the beaches in San Diego. But in this unique situation it was the people at the top of the cliff that were in danger. The swimming pool they were swimming in was in danger of collapsing onto the beach.

It is fun for a San Diego local to point out to our visitors that all of the rocks around them on the beach came from the cliff directly above their heads. While the actual risk from being killed or injured by a falling rock is very small, it does occur every couple of years. This particular slide was not in a place where people would stop and picnic, but the locals do walk along the beach near this cliff. The houses affected by the slide are on the south side of the 400 block of Sea Ridge Drive.

The current tenants were short-term renters on vacation. They must have been surprised to realize the helicopters were circling their house while they were in the pool, and the news trucks in front of the house wanted to talk to them. They quickly packed and left.

Sue B., 38, has lived in South Bird Rock for the last six years, after transplanting from Charlotte, North Carolina. “I don’t understand how they can fix and flip a house like this without really being sure it is safe. The pool is going to fall in next.”