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Updated Jan 21st, 2010
As Rains Intensify,
LCF Braces for Mud’s Onslaught
A towering heap of mud stands in front of a house at the top of Haskell Street in La Cañada
Flintridge, moved here by workers after heavy rains washed it down bare hillsides behind the property.
And this is just the half of it. Xiuhcoatl Aguirre, the general contractor on the cleanup job, said
Wednesday that he had already hauled away 80 tons of muck, and expected the final total to be 120
tons. Aguirre said a small amount of mud had gotten into the house, but that he feared the effects
of the heavy rains due to fall today.
251 Homes Evacuated;
Debris Basin Causes Concern
By ERIC NOLAND
The Outlook
La Cañada Flintridge residents
whose homes back up to fire-ravaged
hillsides braced for catastrophe
as night fell Wednesday and the
third of a series of Pacific storms
swept into the area.
And most had to fret over their
homes in absentia, as 251 homeowners
in particularly vulnerable
neighborhoods were urged to evacuate
Wednesday.
“It’s scary to leave your house
because, when you come back,
you’re expecting the worst,” said
Jack Jesse, a resident on Rock
Castle Road, as he stuffed belongings
into the back seat of his car. He
gazed at the bare mountain slope
that rises steeply behind his family’s
home and said, “The whole hillside
behind us could come tumbling
down.”
The Station Fire gobbled up the
vegetation on the San Gabriel
Mountain slopes in August, leaving
nothing to hold the dirt when the
winter rains arrived. The successive storms of this week were the heaviest
and most prolonged yet.
The northwest corner of town
was of particular concern to officials
because the Mullaly Debris Basin at
the top of Ocean View Boulevard,
which had been cleaned out recently,
filled to the brim Monday when
the first storm in the series dropped
about 3 ½ inches of rain over 24
hours. Efforts to empty the basin
were hampered by a second storm
that blew in Tuesday.
“They were doing some clearing
on it Tuesday,” said Bob Spencer,
spokesman for the Los Angeles
County Department of Public
Works, “but the rains came back
pretty heavy in the afternoon. It was
cleared somewhat, but not as much
as, ideally, we would have liked. It’s
very difficult. Like soup. It’s like
picking water up with your hands.”
The basin was still functioning
late Wednesday afternoon, Spencer
said, with no debris coming over the
spillway, but officials were anxious
about what the heavy rains of Wednesday night and today could
bring.
This third storm wave was
expected to drop between four and
10 inches here over Wednesday and
today, according to weather specialist
Bonnie Bartling of the
National Weather Service’s Oxnard
office.
“The debris basin is going to
run over,” predicted Lyn Slotky,
who lives in the 5600 block of
Ocean View Boulevard — and
whose husband, Bud, is president
of the Paradise Valley Homeowners
Association. “How much damage
it’s going to do, nobody knows.
“I’m not scared. I guess there’s
just a little bit of anxiety. What’s
going to happen? None of us
knows.”
Sheriff’s deputies began going
door to door Wednesday morning
to notify residents of the evacuation
order. It was issued by the Unified
Command — a joint authority
encompassing county fire, sheriff
and public works, according to
Kevin Chun, La Cañada
Flintridge’s director of administrative
services. Notifications were
made Tuesday evening through the
area’s reverse-911 call system.
Most residents interviewed by
The Outlook were agreeably compliant
to the order, citing the danger
of fast-flowing rivers of mud, rock
and tree limbs, but others grumbled
about having to relocate. “This is
unfair to ask us to leave,” said Neliya Ballard of Rock Castle
Road. “I feel safe. I really do.
These guys (from public works) are
up here with trucks and everything.
I think they’re great.”
On Normanton Drive off Ocean
View, one of several short, cul-de-sac
streets that back up to precipitous
mountain slopes, Gary Stibal
wondered why residents were told
they wouldn’t be allowed to return
until Monday. “I don’t know why
they said that long,” he said before
heading to a friend’s house in
Huntington Beach. “I guess it’s precautionary.
I was hoping to be back
by Friday.”
Chun said the Monday return “is
just kind of a guideline. The reason
is, after the rains stop, there may be
mud and debris on the roads, and it’s
going to take time for county public
works crews to clear them. As the
crews clear the roads, they will let
residents back in earlier if they can.”
As was the case during the fire,
La Cañada High School’s gymnasium
has been set up as an evacuation
shelter, but by late Wednesday no
displaced people had taken up residency
there. The Pasadena Humane
Society is again on hand to care for
pets.
Additionally, a discounted rate
of $99 per night is being offered to
evacuees at the Courtyard by
Marriott Pasadena (details at
www.lacanadaflintridge.com).
Earlier in the week, the first in
the series of storms wreaked havoc
in La Cañada Flintridge. Power was
knocked out along Foothill
Boulevard — including traffic lights
— for about two hours Monday
afternoon. The outage occurred just
after noon when a palm frond was
blown into a conductor by high
winds, according to Southern
California Edison spokesman
Charlie Coleman.
He said that 3,473 customers
were initially affected, with service
restored to more than 2,300 of them
by 2:30 p.m. The remainder did not
regain power until after 7:30 p.m.,
Coleman added.
Also on Monday, 100 homes in
northwest La Cañada Flintridge
were evacuated in the early afternoon
after an intense downpour, but
the rain abated soon after and the
order was lifted.
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