Letter From America

Marion McKeone: Spare a thought for the billionaires and their sinking mansions

As environmentalists warn that south Florida is sinking, the super-rich keep paying eyewatering sums for coastal properties

A new barrier wall is the third built to secure San Clemente's slipping slopes and protect the tracks from sliding land in the Los Angelus area. Picture: Getty

Earlier this month, following another walloping by an atmospheric river, some wealthy Californians awoke to find their multi-million dollar beachfront homes had moved noticeably closer to the water’s edge.

More than 562 separate mudslides in Los Angeles alone left gaping holes along coastal cliff faces, rendered its famously scenic Mulholland Drive off-limits, and nudged Beverly Crest homes clean off their foundations.

The luckier denizens of prestige postal codes discovered their cars, swimming pools and landscaped ...