The Pacific Coast Highway is one of the world’s most recognizable roads but a section of it will be inaccessible for the foreseeable future following a mammoth landslide
On Saturday, more than a million tonnes of rock and dirt slid down from the mountain side in an area called Mud Creek, covering about a third of a mile of the famed road.
The California Department of Transportation believes that in some sections, the road has been buried beneath up to 40 feet of debris, BBC reports.
According to the agency’s spokeswoman, Susana Cruz, this is the largest known landslide in California and it is too early to determine when the road may be reopened.
Footage from the scene (below) perfectly illustrates the enormity of the landslide as captured from a helicopter. A remedy won’t be as simple as just removing all the debris, the insecure mountainside will also need to be strengthened, adding to the complexity of reopening up the road to the public.