California Landslide Destroys 17 Homes
By BEN FOX, Associated Press Writer
LAGUNA BEACH, Calif. - Haley Stevens was getting ready for school when the 14-year-old's morning routine was shattered by the sounds of trees and wood-frame houses being torn from their foundation.
The next thing she knew, her family was rushing out the door as a massive landslide bore down on the neighborhood of hillside homes perched along one of the most picturesque sections of Southern California's coastline.
When they made it outside their Bluebird Canyon home, the ground was collapsing beneath them: "We started to feel the street move and we just started sprinting," she said.
Wednesday's landslide destroyed 17 multimillion-dollar houses as it sent structures crashing down a hill. Residents alarmed by the sound of walls and pipes coming apart ran for their lives — many still in their pajamas.
Five people suffered minor injuries, officials said. Eleven homes were damaged, and about 1,000 people in 350 other homes were evacuated as a precaution.
Miraculously, no one was killed.
"We were very scared, my brother and I. We were freaking out," said Stevens, who suffered a minor injury from stepping on a cactus in her bare feet.
Throughout the day, Laguna Hills High School doubled as a Red Cross evacuation center where residents filtered in and out of the school gym, hoping to learn when they might be allowed back into their homes to retrieve belongings and pets.
"It's just been overwhelming," said Vera Martinez, a 65-year-old retiree.
The cause of the disaster was under investigation. But Ed Harp of the U.S. Geological Survey said it was almost certainly related to the winter storms that drenched Southern California. A geologist contracted by the city agreed the cause was most likely rainfall, but said more tests were needed.
Earlier this year, scientists warned that destructive landslides would be possible and they point to Laguna Beach as a wake-up call for other coastal communities to be on the lookout for any slight earth movement.
"We're not out of the woods yet," geologist Randall Jibson said.
Laguna Beach has been dry since a trace of rainfall nearly a month ago, but before that, Southern California had its second-rainiest season on record. The region has gotten nearly 28 inches of rain since last July, more than double the annual average.
The daybreak landslide caught dozens of residents by surprise Wednesday in this Orange County community about 50 miles southeast of Los Angeles.
"You could hear the homes breaking. You could hear the cracking wood," said Jill Lockhart, who awakened to the noise of shattering glass and walls.
"It was like a nightmare," said Lockhart, 35. "We had to run for our lives."
She fled with her son 2-year-old son, Tyson, over her shoulder and his 4-year-old brother, Trey, stumbling along in his pajamas.
The family climbed into a neighbor's SUV, but their path was blocked by a utility pole, forcing them to flee on foot. They had to abandon the road when it began to collapse, finally scrambling down a hillside to safety. Lockhart's two-story home was destroyed.
At the top of the hill, the foundations of several homes were left exposed, their corners jutting out with nothing underneath to support them. One road ended abruptly, with the edge of the pavement hanging over a tangle of debris scattered downhill.
City manager Ken Frank expected about a third of the evacuees — those farthest from the slide — to be back in their homes in the next day or two. Others will be allowed to retrieve belongings under supervision Thursday.
Last January, a landslide crashed down into the coastal community of La Conchita, in Ventura County northwest of Los Angeles, killing 10 people.
Laguna Beach, offering vistas of the Pacific from coastal bluffs, has been hit before by flooding, mudslides and wildfire. In 1998, a rainstorm triggered slides that damaged 300 homes, 18 of them severely, and killed two people. A fire in 1993 swept down into the city and destroyed some 400 homes. Most were rebuilt within a half-dozen years. And in October 1978, a slide in the same canyon destroyed 14 homes.
The area has some of Southern California's most desirable real estate. The damaged homes generally sell for $2 million or more, residents said. Recently, the community was prominently featured on the MTV show "Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County" that debuted in September.
California Landslide Destroys 17 Homes
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AussieMark
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weatherlover427
http://www.ocregister.com/ocr/2005/06/02/sections/lagunaslide/From%20today's%20Register/article_544085.php
Laguna begins assessing slide damage At least 28 houses are wrecked or damaged; entire Bluebird Canyon area is evacuated. By JOHN McDONALD The Orange County Register
Residents hit by today's massive early morning landslide in Laguna Beach will not be allowed to return to their homes before Thursday afternoon. Today's slide destroyed or damaged at least 28 homes in the Bluebird Canyon area. Four people were treated for minor injuries but no one was seriously injured, officials said.
Officials tonight said the city would decide about 2 p.m. Thursday whether to let evacuees located on the east side of the landslide area -- the area most affected -- to return. The decision will be based on whether water, electric and gas service has been restored to the homes.
Residents in 23 homes in the 800 block of Bluebird Canyon Drive who were asked to leave on a temporary basis are being allowed back in tonight. Some never left. They are on the periphery of the landslide area.
Police said they will not arrest anyone who refused to evacuate.
At least 21 houses along Flamingo Road, above Bluebird Canyon Drive, were either destroyed, damaged or in danger of falling, officials said. One report from the scene said a section of hillside about 1,000 feet wide had fallen.
While officials didn't know the cause of the slide, they said it didn't appear to be related to a 1978 slide further downhill in which 25 homes around Oriole Drive and Meadowlark Drive were destroyed.
All homes in the Bluebird Canyon area, more than 300, were evacuated, and all streets into Bluebird Canyon were closed. An evacuation center was set up at Laguna Beach High School, 325 Park Ave. Residents forced from their homes also checked into Laguna hotels, which reportedly were offering discounts to evacuees.
City officials told evacuees whose homes were still inhabitable to make plans to be out of their homes for several days.
Red Cross officials said they were told to be ready to shelter the residents of as many as 150 homes for three to four days. As of early afternoon, 15 people had checked in at the Red Cross evacuation center.
The Red Cross public hot line for information about the evacuation is (714) 628-7085. People needing shelter should call (714) 481-5300.
Residents from Flamingo Road, near the northern end of the slide area, began calling authorities at 6:56 a.m., saying they heard "loud snapping sounds," prompting the start of the evacuation.
Southern California Edison reported that 339 customers lost power at 6:51 a.m. because of the slide. Edison cut power to another 105 customers as a precaution against fire or electrocution. Gas service also was turned off after several underground gas lines ruptured, but no fires were reported.
Electricity had been restored this afternoon to about 90 customers in neighboring areas, but about 350 customers in the hardest hit area are still without power, Southern California Edison’s Tom Boyd said.
Amy Amirani, a resident who lives below the slide, said at about 6:45 a.m. she heard a loud noise that sounded worse than a car crash. "I heard a second crash that sounded like a bomb."
She said she saw dozens of residents running down the street in a panic. One man told her, "The whole mountain came down."
Paul Schnell, 78, was in his bathroom, reading the sports page, at about 6:30 a.m. when the lights when out in his home at 1031 Madison Place, the street at the top of the slide.
He went to the window to see if his neighbors had lost power. When he looked down the slope toward the home of his friends Louie and Kay, below on Flamingo Road, he saw devastation.
Their home "looked like a cracker box, it was all cracking up, and it slid down about 20 feet," Schnell said.
He said he and his wife, Donna, spotted Louie and Kay, both in their 80s, standing in the hole where their home had stood. They were holding hands.
Dorit Huberty was sleeping in her home, in the 900 block of Bluebird Canyon Drive, when she heard what she thought sounded like a fire.
"It was a popping sound," that woke her up. She walked out on her patio and was amazed to see trees and land sliding down the hill above her.
"I got out; I just got out," hauling her 19-month old son, Noah, with her, Huberty said. She called her husband, Stephen, who was awaiting a flight at John Wayne Airport. They reunited down the street from their home.
"The important things are out," Stephen Huberty said.
Shari Beckett, 55, said she was in her home on Palmer Place, a couple of blocks downhill from the slide, when "I heard a roar, I thought it was a tsunami. I looked out to the ocean but it was flat as can be. I looked (uphill) and saw a big cloud, it reminded me of 9/11."
Elaine Anderson, who lives on Dyer Place, just east of the slide, heard a sound that she thought was a car crash. She left her house to walk Boone, her golden retriever. Then she saw an elderly man and woman driving down the hill in separate cars. The woman rolled down her window.
"The houses are falling, get out, get out, get out," the frightened woman yelled.
Beckett smelled gas but did not feel she was in danger so she took Boone home and began eating cereal. Then she heard a bullhorn.
"Evacuate, immediately," the voice on the bullhorn commanded. Beckett said left for the nearest evacuation center.
Laguna begins assessing slide damage At least 28 houses are wrecked or damaged; entire Bluebird Canyon area is evacuated. By JOHN McDONALD The Orange County Register
Residents hit by today's massive early morning landslide in Laguna Beach will not be allowed to return to their homes before Thursday afternoon. Today's slide destroyed or damaged at least 28 homes in the Bluebird Canyon area. Four people were treated for minor injuries but no one was seriously injured, officials said.
Officials tonight said the city would decide about 2 p.m. Thursday whether to let evacuees located on the east side of the landslide area -- the area most affected -- to return. The decision will be based on whether water, electric and gas service has been restored to the homes.
Residents in 23 homes in the 800 block of Bluebird Canyon Drive who were asked to leave on a temporary basis are being allowed back in tonight. Some never left. They are on the periphery of the landslide area.
Police said they will not arrest anyone who refused to evacuate.
At least 21 houses along Flamingo Road, above Bluebird Canyon Drive, were either destroyed, damaged or in danger of falling, officials said. One report from the scene said a section of hillside about 1,000 feet wide had fallen.
While officials didn't know the cause of the slide, they said it didn't appear to be related to a 1978 slide further downhill in which 25 homes around Oriole Drive and Meadowlark Drive were destroyed.
All homes in the Bluebird Canyon area, more than 300, were evacuated, and all streets into Bluebird Canyon were closed. An evacuation center was set up at Laguna Beach High School, 325 Park Ave. Residents forced from their homes also checked into Laguna hotels, which reportedly were offering discounts to evacuees.
City officials told evacuees whose homes were still inhabitable to make plans to be out of their homes for several days.
Red Cross officials said they were told to be ready to shelter the residents of as many as 150 homes for three to four days. As of early afternoon, 15 people had checked in at the Red Cross evacuation center.
The Red Cross public hot line for information about the evacuation is (714) 628-7085. People needing shelter should call (714) 481-5300.
Residents from Flamingo Road, near the northern end of the slide area, began calling authorities at 6:56 a.m., saying they heard "loud snapping sounds," prompting the start of the evacuation.
Southern California Edison reported that 339 customers lost power at 6:51 a.m. because of the slide. Edison cut power to another 105 customers as a precaution against fire or electrocution. Gas service also was turned off after several underground gas lines ruptured, but no fires were reported.
Electricity had been restored this afternoon to about 90 customers in neighboring areas, but about 350 customers in the hardest hit area are still without power, Southern California Edison’s Tom Boyd said.
Amy Amirani, a resident who lives below the slide, said at about 6:45 a.m. she heard a loud noise that sounded worse than a car crash. "I heard a second crash that sounded like a bomb."
She said she saw dozens of residents running down the street in a panic. One man told her, "The whole mountain came down."
Paul Schnell, 78, was in his bathroom, reading the sports page, at about 6:30 a.m. when the lights when out in his home at 1031 Madison Place, the street at the top of the slide.
He went to the window to see if his neighbors had lost power. When he looked down the slope toward the home of his friends Louie and Kay, below on Flamingo Road, he saw devastation.
Their home "looked like a cracker box, it was all cracking up, and it slid down about 20 feet," Schnell said.
He said he and his wife, Donna, spotted Louie and Kay, both in their 80s, standing in the hole where their home had stood. They were holding hands.
Dorit Huberty was sleeping in her home, in the 900 block of Bluebird Canyon Drive, when she heard what she thought sounded like a fire.
"It was a popping sound," that woke her up. She walked out on her patio and was amazed to see trees and land sliding down the hill above her.
"I got out; I just got out," hauling her 19-month old son, Noah, with her, Huberty said. She called her husband, Stephen, who was awaiting a flight at John Wayne Airport. They reunited down the street from their home.
"The important things are out," Stephen Huberty said.
Shari Beckett, 55, said she was in her home on Palmer Place, a couple of blocks downhill from the slide, when "I heard a roar, I thought it was a tsunami. I looked out to the ocean but it was flat as can be. I looked (uphill) and saw a big cloud, it reminded me of 9/11."
Elaine Anderson, who lives on Dyer Place, just east of the slide, heard a sound that she thought was a car crash. She left her house to walk Boone, her golden retriever. Then she saw an elderly man and woman driving down the hill in separate cars. The woman rolled down her window.
"The houses are falling, get out, get out, get out," the frightened woman yelled.
Beckett smelled gas but did not feel she was in danger so she took Boone home and began eating cereal. Then she heard a bullhorn.
"Evacuate, immediately," the voice on the bullhorn commanded. Beckett said left for the nearest evacuation center.
Last edited by weatherlover427 on Thu Jun 02, 2005 3:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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GalvestonDuck
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furluvcats
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This neighborhood is about a mile / mile and half inland from the coast...with incredible views of the Pacific... Laguna is one of our fav. spots...these people will build back and build back quickly...no matter what the threat to them...its unfortunate, but thats the way it goes here in So Cal...if you've got a great view, you'll do whatever it takes to keep it, rebuild it, whatever...we're up high on a hill with a view as well...(not of the ocean)...our home could possibly slide one day too, as the soil here is sandy and not very rocky...I've lost one home to mother nature and her fury...not sure I would be able to handle it a second time...
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