Newport Beach landslide erodes backyards and leaves homes yellow-tagged

Three homes in Newport Beach were yellow-tagged Thursday afternoon following an early morning landslide onto the Upper Newport Bay Ecological Reserve below.

The slide happened around 4 a.m., and one backyard slid completely down the bluff side. Residents of one of the yellow-tagged homes were told they had to evacuate, while the residents of the two other yellow-tagged homes were told they could stay, but not go in their backyards.

As SKYCal flew over the 1400 block of Galaxy Drive, a resident could be seen observing damage to his backyard patio as it appeared to teeter on the cliffside, without any land under it for stabilization.

It is the same bluff, where two blocks away, a 2023 landslide left a home red-tagged and two yellow-tagged. One of those homes was demolished and efforts are still underway to save the other two homes.

Neighbors on Galaxy Drive worry about their own properties as landslide activity continues along the bluff, and with more rain forecasted.

"Well praise the Lord, this house has been, you know had the pilings put in, but my gosh, yeah, you can see over there like a mountain of dirt, and my husband just saw more slip down," neighbor Karen Helberg said.

City Councilmember Erik Weigand said there's not much the city can do about it as the cliffside is on the state's land.

"So the Department of Fish and Wildlife is what governs everything beyond these properties. So when the hillside fails, that's on the state's land and unfortunately the city can't supersede that, they have all the control, all the rights, and we really have very little to do or say," Weigand said.

He also said just last week, the city spoke with the Department of Fish and Wildlife to discuss last year's landslide in the same spot.