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Northern California Residents Lose Homes to Erosion

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BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: From Northern California, some homeowners have lost a battle with nature. A community just south of San Francisco is getting a little bit smaller due to erosion.

George Watson of CNN affiliate KTVU now has more on this story from Daly City.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GEORGE WATSON, KTVU REPORTER (voice-over): This stretch of Westline Drive in Daly City is showing all the classic signs of abandonment: yellowing newspapers lay unread in driveways, windows boarded up turn a blank stare to the street, sidewalks are cracked and shorn up with sandbags. This is a neighborhood slipping away, literally. Helplessly watching the hillside erode form under the houses, officials have red-tagged 21 homes, deeming them unsafe. They say the latest deadline for moving out is April 26. Most of the people are gone, but a few remain, reluctantly picking up the remnants of their lives.

ELENA SCHULTZ, DALY CITY RESIDENT: The damage is done. The damage could have been corrected years ago. There were homes in there that they were moved, indication there was something dreadfully wrong. And they say, we didn't know.

WATSON: A dozen homes were moved from Westline Drive more than 30 years ago. The residents and Daly City officials have been fighting a losing battle against the deteriorating earth ever since.

DON ORQUE, DALY CITY RESIDENT: I'm not sad anymore because, you know, it's been kind of, you know, in the balance for a long time. So I've basically withdrawn since then. But, you know, I -- you know, I thought I'd probably be coming to this house, you know, for the rest of my life, you know, and it's kind of -- it was a shock.

WATSON: Cosmetic upkeep may seem futile at this point, but the eviction line has been drawn just west of this young man's home. He gets to stay. But now his house will be the last one on the block.

IAN ADAMS, WESTLINE DRIVE RESIDENT: All the people coming down here, drawing all over the place, doing all the measurements and telling everyone they have to move, and all the meetings. They're just kind of crazy. It's kind of hard to think that, like, pretty soon there's -- aren't going to be any more houses here. ADAMS: Homes with million-dollar views will vanish at the rate of 40 cents on the dollar. The federal government will pay as much as $150,000 for these homes once worth somewhere in the $400,000 range. But for some, enough is enough. This losing battle against nature is finally over.

SCHULTZ: Luckily, I am an optimistic person and I feel like, after suffering for a long time here, it will be a relief to move.

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HEMMER: That is really, really tough stuff there.

Once the evacuation is complete, the vacated homes will be bulldozed, to add insult to injury.

Again, that story out of Northern California.

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