Malibu avoids new coastal flooding, but Sea Level Drive still red-tagged Play

Malibu has so far escaped any additional new coastal flooding from the high waves that have been hammering the coast this week. Surf has been around five to six feet, but the big waves have been coming atop high tides that are at relatively low levels, at least relative to the recent Kelvin wave peaks.

City Planning's Tyler Eaton summarized the current coastal impact Monday night at the Planning Commission meeting, noting that some things are happening on PCH, in the rebuild area, and on Malibu Road. Fortunately, Malibu has not been as affected as Newport. He noted the Sea Level Drive collapse from over a month ago is still being dealt with, houses are still on red tag, and that neighborhood is still trying to come back.

It has been almost two months of evacuations now for 31 houses on Sea Level Drive along La Chusa Beach. There is still no estimate as to when the official red tag evacuation orders will end.

The Homeowners Association is in charge of repairing Sea Level Drive, which collapsed in front of actor Nicolas Cage's house. The HOA reportedly fired the original contractor who was working on the job. A new contractor was brought in and given two weeks to come up with a plan. That was three weeks ago.

There is no public statement yet as to plans to fix the road, build new driveways for several houses, restore utilities, and allow the city to remove the 31 red tags. Many of those structures are vacation houses, but there are some year-round residents who live in the area.