Landslide closes portion of Laguna Beach at 9th Street

A landslide has caused a temporary Laguna Beach closure at 9th Street Beach, officials said.

A large pile of rocks, dirt and debris covers the beach sand at the popular recreation spot also known as Thousand Steps Beach, as a portion of the cliffside above crumbled. A destroyed beach access staircase could be seen in the rubble. 

A home sits atop the cliff that gave way, but seemingly only the stair walkway leading down to the ocean was destroyed. 

Laguna Beach fire officials said the slide occurred around 8 a.m. and in the afternoon, they were waiting for search and rescue teams with human detection K9s to make sure no one was trapped beneath the rubble.

"They estimated a slide of approximately 500 cubic yards that was down on the beach," LBFD Battalion Chief Ian Da Costa said. "They quickly investigated the structures above and quickly identified that there was no active structure involvement. The only real structure was a manmade walkway that was shared by the residents of the HOA down there, that is involved and is down on the beach right now."