La Chusa Beach evacuation may last five weeks Play

The 33 houses on La Chusa Beach that were evacuated due to coastal erosion may need to sit vacant for five weeks, according to the latest word from the city of Malibu.

Dozens of large balloons were being filled with cement Thursday and placed under the oceanfront houses — eight of them sit on stilts over the ocean along Sea Level Drive. The ninth house, owned by Nicholas Cage, is not getting cement bags. Its septic tank completely washed out, and officials are still coming up with plans to save that house and rebuild Sea Level Drive.

The 22 houses on the uphill side above Sea Level Drive are not physically affected, but the only road in and out is unstable. Until Sea Level Drive gets shored up in front of the Cage house, fire truck access is impossible. The city will not allow people to enter those structures if vehicular access for fire trucks is not available.

It may take five weeks to repair the road. That job is up to the Homeowners Association. The city says the HOA is working as quickly as possible to come up with an acceptable plan and do the work.