00:00A crack nearly 400 feet long is running beneath Pacific Coast Highway in Laguna Beach.
00:05AccuWeather reports it is about 2 feet wide, near Crystal Cove.
00:09Waves are wearing away the coastal bluff under the road.
00:12Caltrans says crews began assessing the slope after cracks were found on October 10.
00:17The damage has narrowed the highway to one lane in each direction.
00:20That stretch runs between Reef Point Drive and Irvin Cove Drive, with a 25-mile-per-hour limit.
00:26Crews have covered the cracks with plastic sheeting to keep rain out of the slope.
00:31Next come temporary barriers at the base of the bluff to slow-wave erosion.
00:36Caltrans says no temporary measure can eliminate all the risks from erosion and severe weather.
00:41AccuWeather says a Kelvin wave from El Nino lifted sea levels at least 12 inches above normal by October 27.
00:48Disclosure. This video contains stock footage and content created or enhanced using AI-assisted tools.