Drone video shows impact of landslide on iconic California highway

BIG SUR, Calif. -- New drone video of a massive landslide south of Big Sur shows just how drastically Highway 1 and the California coastline has been damaged by a million tons of rock and dirt, CBS Los Angeles reports. 

Caltrans, the state's transportation department, estimates the slide is five football fields wide and juts 250 feet into the Pacific, changing the coastline below to include what now looks like a rounded skirt hem, California Department of Transportation spokeswoman Susana Cruz said earlier this week.

More than 1 million tons of rock and dirt slid down an area called Mud Creek, covering about a quarter of a mile stretch of Highway 1.

The Monterey County Sheriff's Office posted a video on Facebook of the slide along Mud Creek, located about eight miles north of the Monterey/San Luis Obispo County line.  

This latest landslide is actually the third of the year, and just the latest gut punch to the region after last winter's record rainfall. Two other landslides to the north, along with floods, have taken out bridges and highways, closed campgrounds and forced some resorts to shut down temporarily or use helicopters to fly in guests and supplies.

Highway 1 along Mud Creek had already been closed to repair buckled pavement and remove debris.

Caltrans says it can't start clearing the landslide or repair the road until the earth stabilizes and it's safe for workers to come back.

Big Sur is one of the state's biggest tourist draws in a normal year, attracting visitors to serene groves of redwoods, beaches and the highway's dramatic oceanside scenery.