Four multimillion dollar homes in San Diego's upscale La Jolla area have been evacuated as a precaution after a landslide cut a 30-foot-deep crevice in a nearby canyon.
City officials are investigating the cause of Wednesday's landslide on the north face of Mount Soledad. It was reported just after 9 a.m.
San Diego Fire-Rescue spokesman Maurice Luque says the slide appeared to have been caused by an underground leak from a private water line linking homes along Encelia Drive to city water mains. The line has been shut off.
Six houses were destroyed after a large collapse on another part of the same mountain in October. At least three significant slides occurred there between 1961 and 1994.