A slope collapse in Tijuana’s Terrazas del Valle II neighborhood trapped one person inside a trench roughly seven meters (23 feet) deep on Tuesday afternoon, June 30.
The Secretaría de Seguridad Pública y Ciudadana Municipal (SSPCM), Tijuana’s municipal public safety agency, received a 911 call at 2:14 p.m. reporting the collapse. Emergency crews were dispatched to the scene immediately.
Rescue Operation in Terrazas del Valle II
Terrazas del Valle II sits in the hilly eastern section of Tijuana, an area where residential development has spread across steep terrain. The neighborhood lies roughly 20 kilometers southeast of the San Ysidro border crossing. Details about the trapped person’s identity, condition, and the outcome of the rescue effort have not yet been released by authorities.
The seven-meter depth of the trench posed a serious challenge for first responders. Slope collapses at that depth require specialized extraction equipment to prevent secondary cave-ins during rescue operations.
Tijuana’s History of Deadly Slope Failures
Tijuana’s rapid growth across hillsides and canyons has produced a long record of slope failures, some of them fatal. In January 2023, a mudslide in the Tejamen neighborhood killed two children after their home collapsed on them during a storm. A 40-year-old woman and a 12-year-old girl were also rescued from a separate landslide in the Campos neighborhood the same day.
In April 2023, an apartment building in the La Sierra neighborhood slid off its hillside foundation after prolonged rains softened the ground. Days later, a second building in the same area collapsed onto a road below, caught on video by city officials.
The current incident comes as Baja California enters its summer monsoon period. Warm, moist air from the Gulf of California can trigger isolated but intense thunderstorms between July and September. Ground saturation from these storms can destabilize natural embankments and retaining walls, known locally as taludes, particularly in areas where construction has altered natural drainage patterns.
Residents in hillside or canyon-adjacent neighborhoods should watch for new cracks in retaining walls, leaning fences, and changes in water drainage after any rainfall. Tijuana’s 911 system accepts reports of unstable slopes.
This story was first reported by Zeta Tijuana.