31 houses still red-tagged at Lechuza Beach as shoring continues Play

The major problem in Malibu remains the 31 houses that are red-tagged at La Chusa Beach. This past week, emergency construction continued Saturday and Sunday on Sea Level Drive, but the crews were still working under the houses on the ocean side of the private road.

This was on either side of the house owned by Nicholas Cage, which is in the middle of the nine houses that sit on stilts along the surf line.

Cement deliveries were scaled back as of Sunday. Dozens of large plastic balloons have been placed under the surviving houses, under the piers that hold them up out of the surf. These gigantic tough balloons have been pumped full of cement brought in by dozens of cement mixing trucks last week. But the giant hole in front of Nicholas Cage's house under Sea Level Drive remains. There were men in it Sunday working to secure the plastic balloons.

Of the 31 houses that remain red-tagged, only the nine houses on concrete stilts above the ocean are threatened in the short term. Some of those are summer rental houses, but other houses up the hill have residents living in them, and they can't go back to their homes until Sea Level Drive is repaired. The fire department needs to be able to get in and out.

Sheriff's deputies are no longer patrolling the subdivision at La Chusa Point. Private security guards are now manning the one road into the disaster site. City officials said the cost of round-the-clock sheriff's patrols was eating into the city's budget.

The Malibu City Council Monday will get an update on the emergency reconstruction project. It will also vote on making the state of emergency more permanent. That meeting is Monday at 6:30 p.m., and we will have full details Tuesday.