Several tons of dirt and rock tumbled onto the beach below Shell Beach over Halloween weekend, the latest chunk of coastline to give way near Eldwayen Ocean Park just as Pismo Beach braces for what could be a punishing El Niño winter. City officials say the collapse ate away ground directly beneath and beside a concrete walking path, leaving it undercut and exposed right where crews were already planning to rip it out.
The slide struck the cliffs immediately north of Eldwayen Ocean Park, according to sanluisobispo.com, which reported that most of the lost material came from the area directly under and next to the concrete pathway. A separate account from Yahoo News confirmed the undercutting, describing the pathway as left hanging over newly exposed ground. Pismo Beach Assistant City Manager Silas Clarke told the paper the timing wasn’t entirely unexpected, since the city had already moved to address the aging path before this latest section gave way.
“We actually already have let a contract out to replace this concrete path, and we’re going to put in this granite aggregate in here just to hopefully assist with stormwater,” Clarke said, per the same report. The replacement path will sit roughly 10 feet back from the bluff edge, and the station’s report notes it is expected to last at least 20 to 30 years, assuming erosion continues at its historical average of around four inches a year.
A Pattern of Slow-Motion Collapse
This isn’t the first time this stretch of coastline has crumbled. Back in July, the Pismo Beach Planning Commission voted 3-0 to approve another round of repairs to the eroding cliffs at Eldwayen Park, a plan that called for relocating the park’s concrete perimeter paths farther inland as decomposed-granite walkways, according to the earlier sanluisobispo.com reporting. That same report found the area south of the park’s seawall had already lost between one and five feet to erosion in places, and multiple benches have fallen into the ocean since the 2023 winter storms battered the area.
Part of the problem is drainage. An outfall pipe near Ocean Boulevard and Pier Avenue doesn’t reach the bottom of the bluff, which lets runoff cascade straight down the cliff face instead of draining away from it, per sanluisobispo.com’s reporting. City staff flagged the issue in a March update, noting that a consolidated Drainage Master Plan had been completed and would inform a paving and drainage project budgeted for the city’s 2027 fiscal year, according to a Pismo Beach city staff update.
El Niño Looms Over the Coast
The collapse lands at an uneasy moment for Central Coast beach towns. A report covered by Cal Coast News identifies both the Avila Beach and Pismo Beach areas among six California regions at risk for severe coastal flooding this winter, pointing to a combination of a Kelvin Wave, king tides, and El Niño conditions as likely culprits. The same report cautions that the actual severity will hinge on the timing and location of storms, along with high tides and stormwater runoff.
Researchers are careful not to overstate the certainty of what's coming. A report from UC Davis describes the coming El Niño winter as carrying real risk — but not a guarantee — of catastrophic flooding in coastal towns up and down the state. That measured framing matters in a county where bluffs like the one in Shell Beach are already eroding steadily even in calmer years.
Bigger Projects Already Underway
The Shell Beach path isn’t the only bluff work on Pismo Beach’s plate. The city has also launched a $7.5 million stabilization and repair project on the bluff along Ocean Boulevard and Cliff Avenue, aimed at protecting a coastal access trail, the roadway, and utility lines, according to KSBY. FEMA is covering 89% of that cost, with the city responsible for the remaining 11%, the station reported, tracing the damage back in part to a 2017 storm that battered the bluffs near Dinosaur Caves Park.
As for the newest break near Eldwayen Ocean Park, News Channel 3-12 reports that Clarke said the city is closely monitoring the bluff and expects more of it to break away over time. Clarke reportedly added that a walking path will remain along the bluff even as crews cut back grass and shift the route farther from the unstable edge, with the broader goal of improving drainage and discouraging people from approaching the crumbling margin. The outlet also reported that large waves and heavy rainfall could accelerate erosion and strain nearby infrastructure, and that the city is weighing ways to protect stormwater and sewer systems along the coast, while noting seawalls remain an expensive option that typically depends on state and federal grant funding.
