Women caught in earthslide in California, one presumed dead

[230RN]

22 Feb 2019

Depite warnings about the danger, two women and a dog were caught in a landslide at Fort Funston, CA, near San Francisco.  One woman and the dog were pulled out, but the other woman has not been found.

After three hours, the rescue operation was changed to a recovery operation.

Initial reports were that the women were walking at the top of the cliff,  but witnesses say they were at the bottom and were buried by the landslide.  According to one report subject to verification, one of the women touched the mass of earth, causing its collapse.

I have not figured out how to bypass the 30-second forced advertisement in the following link and news report:

https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/video/4034729-search-suspended-for-woman-buried-in-landslide-at-fort-funston/  (5:30)

The area has been subject to a lot of rain lately, and warnings about the danger have been posted along coastal cliffs and elsewhere for two and more years.

My concern is that more doesn't come down on the rescuers.

Terry

[230RN]

Update:

https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/02/22/hope-dims-for-woman-buried-in-slide-at-ford-funston/

Salient points:

Apparenlty the tide washed away a lot of the sand and they are using boats to see if the missing woman got washed away as well.

Dog will be turned over to family, relatives.

Surviving woman is recovering from non-life threatening injuries.

Part of the report said the women were walking "halfway up the cliff."  I'm not clear on what that means; initial reports were they were on top of the cliff, that was changed to imply they were at the bottom of the cliff.

I don't understand these people.  Gravity is why planets are round.  Stuff falls down.

Terry

More:  Search "pacifica ca cliffs"  There are also lots of interesting drone videos of the collapsing cliff areas. In several, you can see people walking around down under them.  Although I guess if you're dog-walking down there, you don't have to do any pooper scooping.

[Hawkmoon]

Can't read update link because it's hiding. It demands that I turn off my ad blocker ... which is NOT going to happen.

[230RN]

Well at least I provided the major points.  I had to scan all over the page and hit a lot of closeout "X" boxes to make it readable.

Here's a consolation video of cliff erosion.

https://youtu.be/K7eGj4TTS-k

Here's a goodie.... or baddie.

https://youtu.be/ZVjr4mii3cE

As I said, that's why planets are round.

[Hawkmoon]

I've seen that second video. That one was in England, but it's the same phenomenon.

I am continually amazed that Californians continue to build on top of steep, unstable chunks of Mother earth, and then they act surprised when the hill collapses and takes the building(s) with it. They make speech-like noises to the effect that their architects and engineers are better educated and more highly qualified than similar professionals in other states, yet those same California professionals persist in designing structures where no structures should be built.

[WLJ]

I've seen that second video. That one was in England, but it's the same phenomenon.

I am continually amazed that Californians continue to build on top of steep, unstable chunks of Mother earth, and then they act surprised when the hill collapses and takes the building(s) with it. They make speech-like noises to the effect that their architects and engineers are better educated and more highly qualified than similar professionals in other states, yet those same California professionals persist in designing structures where no structures should be built.

East coast version of that would be building on barrier islands in hurricane zones.

[230RN]

Fairly extensive wrap-up, although body not found:

https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2019/02/23/search-recovery-woman-buried-fort-funston-cliff-collapse-beach/ (4:41)

I had buffering problems with this link. May have been on this end.

Woman who escaped was buried up to her shoulders or waist, dog was apparently clear of the collapse.

Again stated they were at the bottom of the cliff.

High-tide pix show ocean waves right up to the site of collapse.  (No wonder they were thinking she may have been washed out to sea.)

Name of victim not released to save family from exposure to media.

Officials will not change signage (sample shown in video) or anything else, citing that this kind of thing is very rare, and it is a matter of common sense.

Before-and-after pics of the collapsed area shown.

Terry

PS.  Scouting around on gravity versus dirt, I found this clip of a big earth collapse at Niagara Falls in the 1950s:

https://youtu.be/SH8lsTO9Lsk

Unrelated to OP, but it seemed interesting.

[230RN]

I guess this is going to close it for now, unless natural processes expose the remains:

http://www.sfexaminer.com/storm-slows-search-body-woman-lost-fort-funston-landslide/

By Examiner Staff on February 25, 2019 4:19 pm
   
An incoming storm may delay efforts to recover the body of a woman who was lost and presumed killed in a landslide at Fort Funston Friday, Golden Gate National Recreation Area officials said Monday.

The woman was seen climbing up an 80-foot cliff with another woman and a dog at the popular dog-walking area around 2:30 p.m. on Friday when the cliff started caving in on top of them, fire officials said Friday. An estimated four or five tons of dirt fell on to the beach in the slide.

Bystanders were able to pull out the other [one] woman, and attempted to dig out the other but were unsuccessful. The dog was uninjured.

Firefighters combed the area with the help of a search dog Friday night, as well as metal detectors and efforts to ping the woman’s cellphone, and even a drone, but by 6 p.m. had concluded that it was unlikely she would be found alive and switched over to a recovery operation searching for her body.

The woman’s name has not been released.

The search has continued since then, but the use of heavy equipment has been halted due tidal action, continued instability of the cliff and now an incoming storm, officials said. Efforts are currently focused on a visual search of the area, but officials said they hope to be able to use long-boom excavators on the beach after the storm passes.

“Emergency worker safety in ever-changing beach conditions remains our top priority,” Golden Gate National Recreation Area officials said in a statement. “They will work around the forecasted hazardous storm conditions, and will resume operations when the current storm system passes and it is safe to work in the search area.”

Officials assessed the possible use of ground penetrating radar on Monday, but said it was ruled out because of the instability of the area and the likelihood of false positives due to concrete and metal debris in the area.

Charlie Strickfaden, Communications Director for Golden Gate National Recreation Area, said the incident “appears to be an unfortunate and isolated natural incident.”

Fort Funston remains open to the public.

Bay City News contributed to this report.

Once again, there's some vagueness as to whether they were climbing the cliff or walking around on the beach.

Interesting that they tried to ping her cell phone and that ground penetrating radar probably wouldn't work.

Terry, 230RN

[230RN]

Victim identified.

https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/sf-beach-landslide-Kyra-Sunshine-Scarlet-13652962.php

Rest in peace, Kyra Sunshine Scarlet

[230RN]

Picture of the victim

[230RN]

Body of cliff collapse victim found:

https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/body-recovered-at-fort-funston-a-month-after-woman-goes-missing-in-landslide/1875615854