Touring Pacifica’s crumbling cliffs, Rep. Speier seeks aid

Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., right, tours an apartment that resident Michael McHenry, left, evacuated in Pacifica, Calif., Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2016. El Nino storms delivering crashing waves and powerful rain storms have put homes perched atop coastal bluffs near San Francisco in danger, forcing residents of apartment complexes to leave. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu) less Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., right, tours an apartment that resident Michael McHenry, left, evacuated in Pacifica, Calif., Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2016. El Nino storms delivering crashing waves and powerful rain ... more Photo: Jeff Chiu, Associated Press Photo: Jeff Chiu, Associated Press Image 1 of / 47 Caption Close Touring Pacifica’s crumbling cliffs, Rep. Speier seeks aid 1 / 47 Back to Gallery

The crumbling ocean cliffs of Pacifica prompted a call from Rep. Jackie Speier for state and federal help in shoring up the storm-ravaged coast and helping 40 or so evacuated residents find housing.

Speier, D-Hillsborough, toured the coastline Wednesday with a phalanx of politicians and emergency workers, visiting the apartments at 310 Esplanade Ave. that are being evacuated after huge chunks of the adjacent bluff broke off and fell into the sea.

“I can tell you that the devastation is dramatic,” Speier said. “I’m firmly convinced that the federal government now has to recognize that an El Niño is just like a Superstorm Sandy, except it happens over a greater portion of time. ... This is not just a local problem. This is a state and federal problem.”

Pacifica declared a state of emergency last week after rainstorms and waves pounded the cliffs, where apartment buildings at 320 and 330 Esplanade Ave. have been teetering on the edge, unoccupied, since their evacuation in 2010.

The residents of 310 Esplanade were ordered out Monday after city officials judged that recent erosion had left the building too close to an 80-foot drop for comfort. Some were reluctant to leave, but City Manager Lorie Tinfow said Wednesday that everyone had agreed to move.

The evacuations highlight a decades-old problem of coastal erosion in Pacifica, where the once steady inland creep of the ocean appears to have accelerated. The emergency has local, state and federal officials scratching their heads about what to do for landowners in the coastal zone. Nobody has figured out where the money will come from to clear and replace endangered buildings and infrastructure and how the rest of the property on the coast can be protected from being swallowed by the encroaching sea.

The immediate problem in Pacifica is that many of the residents have low incomes and cannot afford nearby rents. Michael McHenry, 41, told Speier he had lived on a San Mateo County-issued voucher at the complex for four months, but can’t find a new place because the county won’t pick up the difference in rent.

“We need help now,” McHenry pleaded, after inviting the congresswoman into his yellow-tagged apartment. He said he moved out after he “heard the big cracks and booms” from the collapsing cliffside, and had spent the past two nights in an emergency shelter.

“Thank God for the Red Cross,” he said. “They’ve given me a place to go.”

Speier, flanked by Pacifica Mayor Sue Digre and county emergency services workers, promised she would make sure McHenry is taken care of.

The Pacifica bluffs, where dozens of apartment buildings and homes sit, are the biggest immediate concern. It is there that seven homes had to be demolished in 1998 to prevent them from crashing into the ocean.

But the surf also damaged the sea wall along Beach Boulevard, near the intersection of Santa Maria Avenue, the Pacifica Pier and the Milagra watershed outfall. The damaged outfall is near Highway 1, which could be undermined in future storms.

“The storm-water outfall is a desperate situation that needs to be addressed. ... Highway 1 is in jeopardy,” Speier said. “This is a significant issue for the city of Pacifica, for the county of San Mateo and for the state of California. This is a profound natural disaster.”

Speier said that $30 million is available now from the state that could be used to shore up public infrastructure, but that Pacifica cannot get federal emergency funds until storm damage claims 800 homes and does $53 million in damage.

She promised to work with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the state Office of Emergency Services to find money to help homeowners, but she also urged the city to establish a community fund for evacuated residents.

County officials said money could also be made available from Measure A, a sales tax passed in 2012 to maintain and replace critical facilities.

“What we have to do,” Speier said, “is come up with a comprehensive plan to protect this neighborhood and to protect Highway 1.”

Peter Fimrite is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: pfimrite@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @pfimrite