Coastal Erosion & Sea Level Rise — Homes Falling Into the Ocean
active• pacifica
Pacifica is California's most dramatic front line for coastal erosion — a crisis that is not metaphorical but physical. Apartment buildings have literally crumbled into the Pacific at Esplanade Avenue, and the threat is ongoing. In a landmark 2025 ruling, the California Coastal Commission allowed Pacifica to continue using its old seawalls and reinforce or expand them to protect the shoreline for two decades — a controversial decision framed explicitly as a stopgap while the city develops a long-term strategy mandated by state law. Mayor Sue Beckmeyer acknowledged the stakes plainly: "That plan is no longer sufficient to address the challenging conditions we face in Pacifica: significant bluff erosion impacts from intensifying weather events, flooding from storm surges, rising sea levels and other effects of climate change." The seawall decision buys time, but doesn't resolve the core dilemma: under a worst-case scenario of 5.7 feet of sea level rise by 2100, a city vulnerability assessment found that 1,115 coastal parcels would be at risk from erosion, flooding, wave damage, or all three — including single-family homes, schools, healthcare facilities, and commercial buildings.
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