Portion of Torrey Pines beach closed after cliff collapse

TORREY PINES STATE BEACH – A cliff collapse Monday morning has prompted authorities to close off a section of beach, according to San Diego lifeguards.

No injuries were reported.

Authorities were notified at about 10:30 a.m. of the collapse, which officials estimate may have dropped up to 100 tons of earth onto the sand below. The area was roped off to keep beachgoers away.

It is the second collapse at Torrey Pines State Beach in the past month. On Aug. 20, a Nevada tourist was killed when a section of unstable cliffs collapsed as he sat on the sand in a narrow area near Flatrock just north of Black's Beach.

Bob Mellone, 57-year-old former Dulzura resident who worked as a respiratory therapist at a Las Vegas hospital, was struck by falling boulders. He died shortly afterward at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla.

He had been at the beach with his nephew and brother, Paul Mellone, who witnessed the tragedy.

Paul Mellone said after the accident that he partially faulted California State Parks officials for not erecting physical barricades or larger signs in the area to keep the public away from the unpredictable cliffs.