Three women have died and two other people have been injured following a rockfall onto a beach in southern California. The incident happened at about 3.00 pm local time on Friday 2 August 2019, when several tons of sandstone from the Leucadia Cliffs collapsed onto the Grandview Beach, where a beach party was celebrating the recovery of one of the victims, Elizabeth Cox, who had been diagnosed as clear of breast cancer. The dead are reported to be Cox herself, plus her sister Julie Davis, 65, and niece, Anne Clave, 35. The identities of the injured parties have not been given, though the San Diego County Sheriff's Department has confirmed they were members of the same family and were not children. The area of beach where the incident happened remains closed due to concerns about the stability of the cliffs.
Rescue workers at the scene of the 2 August 2019 San Diego County cliff collapse. AP.
The Leucadia Cliffs are comprised of poorly consolidated sandstones, and are often undermined by the action of waves on the bottom of the
cliffs, which wash away the lower layers, which leads to the rocks above
coming down, often in large vertical sheets, due to the low structural
strength of the rocks.
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