Students at UC Santa Barbara are returning to homes perched atop a rapidly eroding California cliff as a powerful El Nino threatens to bring intense rain and heavy surf—conditions that can send sections of the bluff tumbling into the Pacific.
Del Playa Drive is once again crowded for the fall quarter, with students filling balconies and yards, vehicles packed two or three deep in driveways, and moving boxes stacked beside dumpsters.
For renters living nearest the cliff edge, however, the ground beneath the party is steadily disappearing.
“Erosion’s always kind of in the back of your mind,” one tenant told The Santa Barbara Independent.
Another student said she has seen friends lose sections of their backyards since her freshman year.
“It’s the only one you can’t see from the beach. All the others are just right by the cliff,” she told The Independent.
El Nino could now add further stress to the already unstable coastline.
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Heavy rainfall can seep through Isla Vista’s sandy upper layers, reaching fractures in the weaker mudstone and shale underneath.
At the same time, high tides and storm-driven waves can batter the bluff from below.
Larry Gurrola, an engineering consulting geologist who has studied cliff erosion for more than 30 years, explained what can happen when the bluff ultimately fails.
“It’s almost like a glacier collapsing sometimes, where these blocks collapse out and then break up on the beach,” Gurrola told the outlet.
Del Playa’s homes have already suffered the consequences of the erosion.
In February 2024, a major collapse on the 6700 block prompted 45 tenants to evacuate after a balcony cracked and fell.
Two months later, another balcony on the 6600 block plunged into the ocean.
Geologists caution that relocations provide only temporary relief. Conservative projections estimate the cliff could retreat another 25 feet over the next 50 years.
