Nicolas Cage’s $10.5 million Malibu mansion has been drawn into a fast-moving coastal emergency after powerful surf and high tides eroded beachfront access points, collapsed driveways and prompted officials to red-tag five homes while crews work to stabilize the area.
Malibu officials declared a local emergency Tuesday evening as the city continued responding to a large sinkhole and related damage along the shoreline.
“An evacuation order is in effect for all affected properties. Sheriff Deputies have notified residents in person, and a digital alert has been issued,” the city said in a statement.
Officials said the trouble spots include areas near Pacific Coast Highway within the Palisades Fire burn area, as well as Westward Beach, where “strong waves and high tides” have intensified hazardous conditions.
The emergency began unfolding Monday morning on a private road in the 31600 block of Sea Level Drive near Point Lechuza.
According to CBS, five oceanfront properties were red-tagged after their driveways gave way “due to coastal erosion from the high tides and high surf,” making entry into the homes prohibited.
SoCal Gas said its crews were alerted at about 5:45 a.m. to damage involving natural gas infrastructure connected to the sinkhole.
Crews found damage to a half-inch natural gas line and safely shut off the flow. Repairs are continuing, and SoCal Gas warned that nearby residents and businesses may detect a natural gas odor while the work is underway.
Now the race is on to hold back the ocean.
At least 15 concrete trucks descended on the exclusive gated community off Broad Beach Road as crews from the City and third parties scrambled to plug a failed seawall and shore up a roughly 30-by-30-foot hole where the driveway once stood, with asphalt and concrete cracked apart and collapsed toward the enclosed garage.
The damage is near Cage’s four-level, 3,938-square-foot residence at 31630 Sea Level Drive.
Because the road is private, the trucks must go in one at a time to dump concrete into the collapse.
Workers are racing to fill the hole before the evening high tide arrives and potentially washes away even more land.
Some crews could remain all night to monitor the situation.
But the concrete blitz may be only a temporary fix against the brute force of the ocean. Workers are pouring wet concrete into a wet hole while waves continue hammering the coast.
The seawall has failed between two properties, washing out the section behind three homes.
Cracks have opened in the wall, while the ocean is eroding the ground beneath the foundation of the private road.
The crisis was also accompanied by a gas leak at the back of Cage’s property.
The gas began leaking in the morning while most neighbors were inside.
One neighbor told The California Post that something happened between 12 a.m. and 3 a.m.
A house across the street opened its windows and doors to clear the gas.
The leak now appears to be shut off.
Stormy weather has battered coastal Los Angeles with rain, thunder, lightning, pounding surf and coastal flooding.
The extreme surf and rain from the remnants of Hurricane Marie caused the flooding, driveway collapse and gas leak on the private road in western Malibu.
Cage, 62, bought the property in 2024 for $10.5 million. He is known for films including “Face/Off,” “Con Air” and “Gone in 60 Seconds.”
For now, crews are racing to keep the ocean from taking any more of the neighborhood before high tide hits.
