{"id":475197,"date":"2026-09-25T10:02:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-25T10:02:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/475197\/"},"modified":"2026-09-25T10:02:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-25T10:02:14","slug":"uc-santa-barbara-students-move-back-to-homes-on-eroding-california-cliffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/475197\/","title":{"rendered":"UC Santa Barbara students move back to homes on eroding California cliffs"},"content":{"rendered":"

UC Santa Barbara<\/a> students are moving back into homes perched along a rapidly eroding California cliff, just as a powerful El Nino<\/a> threatens to unleash heavy rain and pounding surf that can send chunks of the bluff crashing into the Pacific.<\/p>\n

Del Playa Drive is filling up again for the fall quarter, with students crowding balconies and yards, cars stacked two and three deep in driveways and moving boxes piled beside dumpsters.<\/p>\n

But for tenants living closest to the edge, the ground beneath the party keeps getting thinner.<\/p>\n

Apartments are seen near the edge of a cliff in Isla Vista, California, at UCSB, on Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026. CA Post<\/p>\n

University of California, Santa Barbara dorms and apartments stand near a cliff threatened by collapse from El Ni\u00f1o in Isla Vista, California, on Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026. Rafael Fontoura for CA Post<\/p>\n

University of California, Santa Barbara dorms and apartments stand near a cliff threatened by collapse in Isla Vista, California, on Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026. Rafael Fontoura for CA Post<\/p>\n

\u201cErosion\u2019s always kind of in the back of your mind,\u201d one tenant told The Santa Barbara Independent<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Another student said she has watched friends lose pieces of their backyards<\/a> since her freshman year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the only one you can\u2019t see from the beach. All the others are just right by the cliff,\u201d she told The Independent<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Apartments are seen near the edge of the cliff around Isla Vista, California, at UCSB on Thursday, September 24, 2026. CA Post<\/p>\n

Apartments are seen near the edge of a cliff around Isla Vista, California, at UCSB on Thursday, September 24, 2026. CA Post<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, high tides and storm-driven waves can pound the bluff from the ocean side. CA Post<\/p>\n

Now El Nino could put the unstable coastline under even more pressure.<\/p>\n

Heavy rain can soak through Isla Vista\u2019s sandy upper layers and reach fractures in the weaker mudstone and shale below.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, high tides and storm-driven waves can pound the bluff from the ocean side.<\/p>\n

Apartments and University of California, Santa Barbara dorms stand near the edge of a cliff threatened by collapse from El Nio in Isla Vista, California, on Thursday, September 24, 2026. Rafael Fontoura for CA Post<\/p>\n

Apartments are seen near the edge of the cliff in Isla Vista, California, at UCSB on Thursday, September 24, 2026. CA Post<\/p>\n

Larry Gurrola, an engineering consulting geologist with more than 30 years of experience studying cliff erosion, described what happens when the bluff finally gives way.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s almost like a glacier collapsing sometimes, where these blocks collapse out and then break up on the beach,\u201d Gurrola told the outlet.<\/p>\n

University of California, Santa Barbara dorms and apartments sit near a cliff threatened by collapse in Isla Vista, California, on Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026. Rafael Fontoura for CA Post<\/p>\n

The danger has already hit Del Playa homes hard.<\/p>\n

In February 2024, a major cliff failure on the 6700 block<\/a> forced 45 tenants to evacuate after a balcony cracked and collapsed.<\/p>\n

Another balcony on the 6600 block plunged into the ocean <\/a>two months later.<\/p>\n

Geologists warn that such moves only buy time, with conservative estimates<\/a> projecting another 25 feet of retreat over the next half-century.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UC Santa Barbara students are moving back into homes perched along a rapidly eroding California cliff, just as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":475198,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,4228,4182,4130,5875,3586],"class_list":["post-475197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-colleges-and-universities","tag-metro","tag-pacific-ocean","tag-santa-barbara","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475197","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=475197"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475197\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/475198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=475197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=475197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=475197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}