A large sinkhole opened beneath the driveway of a beachfront property in Malibu, California, on Tuesday morning, causing evacuations along the street and prompting emergency repair efforts. The home is reported to belong to US actor Nicolas Cage, who is said to have purchased the property in 2024 for approximately nine million euros.

Malibu is an affluent coastal city west of Los Angeles, known for its beaches and celebrity residences. The affected properties lie in a narrow strip between the Pacific Coast Highway and the ocean — a location that makes them especially vulnerable to coastal erosion. The sinkhole is believed to have been triggered by Hurricane Marie, a storm that did not make direct landfall on the US west coast but generated heavy rainfall and dangerous wave surges along the Los Angeles coastline, eroding the ground in several locations across Malibu.

The collapse caused a gas leak at the site, which a utility company was able to repair after several hours. As a precaution, gas supplies to the area have been temporarily cut off amid fears of further erosion. Local authorities declared five homes on the street temporarily uninhabitable and established a shelter for displaced residents. Emergency crews are working to stabilise the affected properties and prevent additional damage.

Representatives for Cage have not commented on the incident. The 61-year-old actor, a nephew of director Francis Ford Coppola, won an Academy Award in 1995 for his lead role in the drama Leaving Las Vegas and is widely known for action films including Gone in 60 Seconds and Con Air. He recently appeared in the superhero series Spider-Noir.

The episode underscores the growing vulnerability of California's coastal communities to storm-driven erosion, particularly in areas where high-value properties sit on terrain that can be rapidly destabilised by wave action and heavy rain. Aerial footage of the scene showed a dramatic void where the driveway once stood, with the structure of the house itself remaining visibly intact.