Cliff Avalanche Closes Down Montauk Park

By Russell Drumm

From the top of what is now the new edge of a 70-foot-high bluff above the ocean beach just east of downtown Montauk, brown swirls of mud could be seen eddying into a green ocean on Monday afternoon. A little before noon, an avalanche of dirt, rock, and clay had slid from the near-vertical bluff to the beach below.

The section that fell was large, approximately 100 feet long by 12 feet wide. Town officials said that someone who saw the slide said it did not appear that anyone had been on the beach at the time. Debris from the avalanche was piled about 10 feet high and extended from the toe of the bluff to the sea.

The slide occurred just west of the western edge of Shadmoor State Park, in front of a house on Surfside Avenue owned by John S. Ryan and his sister Patricia Ryan, neither of whom was home. Theirs is the easternmost dwelling in the community known as Surfside. The state park stretches about a mile from Surfside east to Ditch Plain.

East Hampton Town police quickly blocked off the eastern and western borders of Shadmoor to walkers, also blocking off the trails along the bluff edge and closing the parking lot.

On Tuesday Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman declared a local state of emergency. It was the second, and larger slide at or near Shadmoor in recent weeks due to snow melt and rain. This spring authorities fenced off a section of beach when the bluff containing remnants of the old Rheinstein estate's foundation slid to the beach near the eastern border of Shadmoor.

Until the bluffs "dry and stabilize," the main access points to Shadmoor will be fenced off, and fencing will be placed 50 feet from the bluff edge to discourage people from approaching it, according to a statement released by the supervisor's office. The State Parks Department has closed the entrance to Shadmoor Park from Montauk Highway and is putting up warning signs. Supervisor Schneiderman has called on the United States Army Corps of Engineers to study the situation.

Larry Penny, East Hampton's director of natural resources, said Montauk's bluffs had been collapsing at an alarming rate, by as much as eight feet and more per year. He explained that they were composed of clay, soil, and rock. Groundwater naturally works its way through the cliffs via underground streams, but excessive amounts of it turned the clay to slurry, which caused the soil to slide.

It so happens that an attorney for the Ryans had planned to submit an application to the Town Zoning Board of Appeals on Monday asking permission to move the house back from the bluff edge. "The front deck was 11 feet from the edge, now it's about five," said John MacLachlan of Biondo and MacLachlan, the Montauk law firm representing the Ryans. "Hopefully, this will expedite the review."

He added that the Ryans planned to move their house 60 feet back. Engineers would have to decide whether it was safe to use a crane to move the house, he said, or whether it was wiser to demolish the existing structure and rebuild. Mr. MacLachlan said he doubted the situation would cause the property to be condemned.