Mudslides assault homes near LA
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A women retrieves belongings from a car washed up on the side of a road as heavy rains causes mudslides in La Canada Flintridge, California February 6, 2010. Authorities worked to clear the mud-choked streets and ordered some 500 homes evacuated because more heavy rain was expected on Saturday afternoon and the hillsides remained dangerously unstable. [Agencies] |
Neighbor Olivia Brown said she saw cars being washed down the street at speeds of up to 40 mph.
"It was going so fast, boulders were moving like they were pebbles," Brown said.
More than a foot of debris was seen in at least 10 houses. Family photographs, toys, furniture items and other items were dotted throughout the debris that gushed into yards and streets. At least five homes had been "red-tagged" by county inspectors, meaning they were unsafe to enter.
At one red-tagged home, crews dug by hand through at least 4 feet of mud to try and find the source of a natural gas leak.
Half way along Ocean View Boulevard, where the hillside road flattens out, a jumble of 12 cars and trucks had come to a stop after being washed down the road. A silver sport utility vehicle lay on top of a flattened Toyota, both completely mangled.
Another of the wrecked cars belonged to Kelly Schroeder, who had parked it Friday night outside her house a quarter mile up the road.
"I'm not going to complain, because our neighbors are in such a bad state," Schroeder said.
By midmorning, the rain had tapered off, but forecasters said another storm system was expected later Saturday.
The evacuations were ordered in foothill areas of Sierra Madre, La Canada Flintridge, La Crescenta and some parts of Acton.
"We've got crews going door to door to tell residents to get out," said Los Angeles County Fire Insp. Frederick Stowers. "Some of the roads up there are a complete mess."
Evacuation centers were set up at La Canada High School and at a recreation center in Sierra Madre. The Red Cross was working to establish other locations to shelter displaced residents.
Crews used bulldozers and other heavy equipment to clear masses of mud and rocks that blocked suburban streets and intersections.
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