LEUCADIA — A sunny summer Friday turned into a nightmare yesterday afternoon at Grandview Surf Beach.
At approximately 3:00 PM, a 30-foot section of the sandstone bluff collapsed onto the beach below, trapping several beachgoers under tons of heavy rock and earth. Despite the frantic efforts of lifeguards and bystanders who dug with bare hands, three women have been confirmed dead.
Witnesses who were surfing nearby described the sound as like a bus hitting a wall. One second everyone was sunbathing, they recalled, and the next there was just a cloud of dust and screaming.
City geologists are currently on site assessing the stability of the remaining cliffs. The beach remains closed from Beacon's to Ponto as a precaution. Flowers have already begun to pile up near the wooden staircase access point, a somber memorial to the victims of this unpredictable natural tragedy.
The incident has reignited the long-standing debate about coastal erosion and the safety of beaches that sit below towering, fragile bluffs. For now, however, Encinitas is a city in mourning.