Things to know about last week's California cliff collapse

ENCINITAS, Calif. (AP) — Three family members enjoying a day at a San Diego area beach were killed Friday when a huge slab of the cliff above them plunged onto the sand. The collapse has raised questions about the stability of bluffs along California's 1,000-mile (1,600-kilometer) coast. Here are things to know:

WHAT HAPPENED LAST WEEK?

Lifeguards and beachgoers scrambled to help search for victims after tons of sandstone were unleashed at Grandview Beach, a narrow strand in Encinitas popular with locals, surfers and vacationers.

Anne Clave, 35, and her mother, Julie Davis, 65, died at hospitals, the San Diego County Medical Examiner said. A family email obtained by KNSD-TV identified the third victim as Elizabeth Cox, Clave's aunt. Cox died instantly at the scene, the email said. Her age wasn't given.

Two other people were injured.

Officials on Saturday reopened much of the beach.

Geologists were on scene all weekend assessing the area around the collapse zone. Homes on top of the cliff were in no immediate danger, Encinitas Lifeguard Capt. Larry Giles said.

Long stretches of beach in Encinitas are narrow strips of sand between stiff waves and towering rock walls. People lounging on beach chairs or blankets are sometimes surprised as waves roll past them and within a few feet of the walls.

Some areas are only accessible by steep wooden stairs that descend from neighborhoods atop the cliffs.

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HAS IT HAPPENED BEFORE?

Bluffs give way four to eight times a year in Southern California, but "nothing of this magnitude," Brian Ketterer, southern field division chief of California State Parks, said Friday.

Encinitas resident Rebecca Kowalczyk, 30, died near the same area Jan. 16, 2000, when an enormous chunk of bluff fell and buried her, the San Diego Union-Tribune...