82-year-old reveals why he refuses to leave his multi-million dollar mansion hanging off rickety cliff

It's in human nature to feel attached to certain things in their life. Houses, in particular, are something that people feel quite sentimental about. That is the case for an 82-year-old man, who lives in a house that is teetering on the edge of a cliff on a California coast. As per KCAL News, last month's storm in California caused a great commotion among the cliffside dwellers but Dr. Lewis Bruggeman is confident about the stability of his home.

The monstrous storm not only caused tons of rocks to slide down the cliffs onto the beach but also created many sinkholes and coast-side erosion. The owners of three huge cliff-side mansions in Dana Point were at risk of losing their homes to the landslide. However, Bruggeman wasn't threatened by nature's menace, despite living in a multi-million dollar mansion that lurches on the cliff's edge. "The house is fine. It's not threatened. It will not be red-tagged," the homeowner confidently told the news channel, highlighting that he isn't planning to move to a new house anytime soon. The city has also confirmed that there isn't any major structural issue with the house.

As per some passersby who viewed the Dana Point homes from the ocean below, many houses seemed to be in a perilous position. A few homes had decks dangling over the ocean and considering the massive landslides, they appear as though they would fall soon. From an aerial view of the Dana Point cliffs captured by ABC 7, the remains of a large part of the land were seen sitting at the base of the cliff. Despite the location catering to a scenic drive, the estate homes were frighteningly close to the landslide that happened during the storm last month.

Speaking of the three cliff-side homes, local resident Jan Cocchiara told ABC 7, "I would be concerned if I lived in one of those homes. I don't know if it's because of all the development that the hill's been compromised." However, City Manager Mike Killebrew had reassured, "The city's geotechnical engineer and a building sector went out the site to assess the situation, as well as talk with the homeowner who owns the residence and slope where the failure occurred. Currently, the city has confirmed that there is no imminent threat to that home." 

Though the city officials confirmed the houses' safety as they are anchored to bedrock, an executive with an engineering firm visited the properties and assessed them. As per their examination, there might be a possibility of the slopes getting eroded more and more causing a risk to the homes. Speaking to the Washington Post about this, Kyle Tourjé, the Executive Vice President of Los Angeles-based engineering firm Alpha Structural which specializes in soil and structural work, said, "That’s going to need major, major work to stabilize that property," and added, "We’re seeing more damage, and I think we will continue to see more significant damage. Between back-to-back years of heavy saturation, these houses, these properties, they just can’t take this kind of beating."