Following heavy El Niño rains in January and recent pounding surf, yet another portion of Sunset Cliffs yielded to nature last week, sending tons of sandstone and debris hurtling to the beach below. No injuries were reported after a portion of the famed bluffs at 1303 Sunset Cliffs Blvd. gave way about 5 p.m. last Wednesday, according to San Diego Fire-Rescue Department.  The collapsed portion, termed “large” by Fire-Rescue spokesman Lee Swanson, was in an area of the popular cliffs inspected just over a month ago by a municipal geologist after cracks were observed in the ground at the bluff’s top. The area, which includes the first public parking lot south of Point Loma Avenue, was ordered closed based on these findings. Since that time, a city-installed fence has kept nightly hordes of sunset-watchers, recreational walkers and others back while several permanent signs installed years ago warning of “Unstable Cliffs” now stand alone far behind the chain link barriers. City lifeguards and police officers surveyed this most recent incident before deeming current fencing and signage sufficient to protect the public. Dr. Pat Abbott, SDSU professor of Geology and Geophysics Emeritus, suggested persons walking along the top of any local cliffs stay well back from the edges and those on the beaches below walk as close to the water as possible to provide extra space in case part of the bluffs were to fall. Abbott listed gravity and the cliff’s steepness accelerated by El Niño rains as causes of this latest development in the erosion process.