Mary Bowerman

USA TODAY Network

Some cliff side residents in Pacifica, Calif., are being forced to leave their homes as the ground outside their backdoors falls into the sea.

The city declared a state of emergency last week amid concerns that streets and some homes were at risk due to erosion, according to a statement.

“El Nino is hitting the city’s coastline very hard and creating almost daily reports of impacts to both public and private property,” city Manager Lorie Tinfow said in a statement.

Drone video of an apartment complex teetering on the edge of a cliff, shows mounds of ground breaking off the side of the cliff and falling into the ocean.

Mike Cully, Pacifica’s chief building official, said residents could collect their belongings from the apartments but were not permitted to continue living in the building, the Chronicle reported. On Monday, city officials ordered residents to evacuate the apartment complex on Esplanda Drive along the coast, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

“Cavities in the bluff are forming to the south, west and north of the building, and these critically over-steepened slopes are anticipated to fall back ... in the next several days,” Cully told the Chronicle.

This isn’t the first time Pacifica residents have dealt with evacuations due to erosion. In 1998, El Nino storms resulted in one home collapsing into the sea, and others demolished before they followed suit, CBS reported.

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