A California beach ravaged by coastal erosion has forced the cancellation of a music festival that was due to feature The Killers, Olivia Dean and Jack White.
The two-day Ocean Way Festival was scheduled to take place later this month in Santa Monica, near Los Angeles. But waves reaching 4.5 meters, combined with storm runoff, have severely damaged the site, prompting city officials to cancel the event.
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“Storm surf generated by Hurricane Marie and runoff from a storm drain outfall eroded a large portion of the festival site,” the city of Santa Monica said in a statement.
After a week of turbulent Pacific conditions, the storm stripped away so much sand that the beach was no longer considered safe enough to host the festival, officials said.
Santa Monica, the official western endpoint of Route 66, is known for its broad golden shoreline and its landmark wooden pier, which has appeared in countless American television programs and films.
The festival cancellation was announced just days after powerful surf carved a massive sinkhole into the driveway of a beachfront home owned by Oscar-winning US actor Nicolas Cage.
Authorities in Malibu, immediately north of Santa Monica, have ordered people to leave 31 homes amid concerns over the growing hole and the instability of the coastline.
In Dana Point farther south, at least seven homes were declared uninhabitable after rapid erosion undermined the shoreline, including one property that collapsed into the sea.
Nearby Laguna Beach has also been affected by similar coastal damage.
A succession of tropical storms has unsettled the Pacific Ocean in recent weeks, with several systems strengthening into hurricanes.
Scientists say a near-record-strength El Nino climate episode is raising ocean temperatures and contributing to increasingly volatile conditions.
Although El Nino is a natural part of the climate cycle, researchers believe human-caused climate change is intensifying ocean warming and worsening its consequences.
