The town of La Conchita, California, experienced major landslides in 1995 and 2005. The latter landslide killed 10 people, and destroyed or damaged dozens of houses. The 2005 landslide occurred on part of a previous landslide that occurred in 1995. The historic slides are part of the larger Rincon Mountain slide, which "started many thousands of years ago and will continue generating slides in the future." Setting La Conchita is a small community located on the southern California coastline between Ventura and Santa Barbara. It lies on a narrow strip of land about wide between the shoreline and abutting a high bluff. The top of the bluff was covered by avocado and citrus orchards. The bluff above La Conchita has a slope of approximately 35 degrees and consists of poorly cemented marine sediments. Geologic evidence indicates that landslides have been occurring at and near La Conchita for many thousands of years up to the present, on a geologically frequent basis. Historical accounts support this. Reported landslides began in 1865. In both 1889 and 1909, the Southern Pacific rail line running along the coast was inundated. In the 1909 slide, a train was buried. Since that time, other slides have occurred, covering at times cultivated land, roadways, and the community itself. 1995 La Conchita landslides In 1994-1995, the seasonal rainfall at Ojai (20 kilometers (12 miles) northeast of La Conchita) from October 1 through March 3 (the day before the landslide occurred) was 761 millimeters (29.96 inches), approximately twice the normal amount. Surface cracks in the upper part of the slope were noted as far back as the summer of 1994. At the beginning of the rainy season, in December 1994, several open cracks had opened on the hillside, and surface runoff was infiltrating into the subsurface. On March 4, 1995, the hill behind La Conchita failed, moving tens of meters in minutes, and buried nine homes with no loss of life. The County of Ventura immediately declared the whole community a Geological Hazard Area, imposing building restrictions on the community to restrict new construction. Days later, on March 10, a subsequent debris flow from a canyon to the northwest damaged five additional houses in the northwestern part of La Conchita. The dimensions of the slides were approximately wide, long, and deep. The deposit covered approximately , and the volume was estimated to be approximately 1.3 million cubic meters (1.7 million