Lewis Bruggeman says he won’t be moving out of his mansion despite the landslide (Pictures: MSN CBS/Getty)
The owner of a multimillion-dollar mansion teetering on the edge of a cliff after a landslide has no plans to move.
Lewis Bruggeman, 83, said he’s been told his home in Southern California is safe, despite the fact a huge portion of the cliff at the foot of his property fell onto the beach below.
Dramatic footage shows his and two other mansions in Dana Point sitting perilously close to the edge after wet and stormy weather caused the ground to collapse.
Radiologist Dr Bruggeman told KCAL his $15.9 million four-bedroom house is ‘fine’.
‘It’s not threatened and it will not be red-tagged,’ he said. ‘The city agrees that there’s no major structural issue with the house.’
Dana Point city manager Mike Killebrew, meanwhile, confirmed there was no ‘imminent threat’ to the property.
He added: ‘The city’s geotechnical engineer and a building sector went out to the site to assess the situation, as well as talk with the homeowner who owns the residence and slope where the failure occurred.’
Dr Bruggeman says there is ‘no structural issue’ with his house (Picture: CBS/KCAL)
The landslide happened at the foot of Mr Bruggeman’s home (Picture: AFP via Getty Images)
California has seen one of its wettest Februarys on record, with the state battered by floods, mudslides and storms.
Although Dr Bruggeman’s home has been deemed safe for now, some experts say future bad weather could put it at risk if work isn’t done to protect it.
‘That’s going to need major, major work to stabilise that property,’ Kyle Tourjé, executive vice president of Alpha Structural, a Los Angeles engineering firm, told The Washington Post.
‘We’re seeing more damage, and I think we will continue to see more significant damage. Between back-to-back years of heavy saturation, these houses, these properties … they just can’t take this kind of beating.’
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web
browser that
supports HTML5
video
The area has experienced the wettest February on record (PIcture VCG via Getty Images)
Next to Dr Bruggeman’s home, sitting on a slightly lower perch but right by the landslide is a $12.8 million residence owned by 66-year-old contracting mogul Guy Yocom.
And located slightly further back from the cliff edge, but still close, is a $13million house belonging to local producer Marketta Karsikko-Gassel, 80.
The Dana Point landslide is one of several similar incidents in the area in recent weeks.
More rain is forecast for early this week.
The homes teetering on the edge of the cliffs in Dana Point (Picture: Getty Images)
The UK has seen its own fair share of landslides, with coastal erosion putting properties at risk.
In November last year, several mobile homes in Lowestoft, Suffolk were left teetering on the edge of cliff after a 500ft stretch of shoreline crumbled into the sea.
In the same month, families in St Leanards-on-Sea, East Sussex, were evacuatedafter a huge landslip caused serious damage to at least one home.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.