Laguna Beach Landslide Sends Homes Crashing

AP ^ | June 1, 2005

[Howlin]

LAGUNA BEACH, Calif. - A landslide sent at least five expensive homes crashing down a hill Wednesday and may have damaged many others.

Fire department personnel had no estimate of the damage, and there was no immediate word on whether there were any injuries.

Television helicopter footage showed smashed homes on heavily built-up Flamingo Road. The earth was still moving beneath the homes. Some fell nearly intact, while others were ripped apart and left trails of debris.

The steep coastal area has had slide problems before and several homes were "red-tagged" as uninhabitable in February, during the second rainiest season on record in Southern California.

Laguna Beach is about 50 miles southeast of Los Angeles.

[BurbankKarl]

mia lee...lots of plastic surgery on that one.

[Brad’s Gramma]

Well, that looks like some sort of high school pettiness.

Ha! You haven't a clue. :)

[lainie]

Points from Laguna Beach mayor Elizabeth Pearson-Schneider

• 911 calls began in earnest at 6:50 a.m.
• Air surveys will tell them the volume of dirt which has moved, but the weather needs to change before the crew can get airborne
• 38 homes either destroyed or tenuous so far
• power and gas cut to hundreds

[al baby]

better living with plastics

[Howlin]

Geez, the way some people get their kicks. *Sigh*

[lainie]

I guess that's about it. Not much of a news conference.

[BurbankKarl]

[Brad’s Gramma]

I was on a thread yesterday with two brave ladies who live in San Francisco....ya should've seen the nasty stuff said.

People are SO petty sometimes.

I've gotta tell you....if you ever are out here, make sure you go into Laguna Beach. The beach is nice, the area is nice. There's some old (or were some???) landmarks there.

[Marysecretary]

I remember my ex-daughter-in-law (sad that she's my ex!) talking to me on the phone one day and telling me that by standing on a chair and looking out a certain window, she could see flames. Man, that is TOO close for my comfort.

[lainie]

sheesh

[Howlin]

14. Laguna Beach, Orange County (OES Mission #98-SOU6123). On 03/23 OES requested technical assistance on the geologic analysis of slopes, that are in continued threat of mudslides and landslides, for preliminary determination of potential slope movement and mitigation suggestions. A report prepared by DMG geologist Tan was released 04/17. On 12/06/97 three beach-side homes were evacuated and 20 others were severely damaged (Tan, 02/11). On 02/17 a hill slipped and sent boulders tumbling toward a restaurant (Tan, 02/19). On 02/22 Laguna Canyon Road was closed due to mudslides (Tan, 03/05). On 02/23 in Canyon Acres, a home partially collapsed under a slide, and part of a bungalow on Victory Walk was crushed. Other slide areas include Laguna Canyon Road, Bluebird Canyon Drive and a trailer park near Aliso Pier (Tan, 03/05). On 02/24 the rainfall forced 550 people from their homes. A wall of mud roared down hillsides, killed one man, injured nine people and destroyed four homes in the Castle Rock community. One man was killed when a mudslide slammed into his cottage on Victory Walk. On Canyon Acres Drive, three houses were destroyed and five others damaged. Damaged houses were reported in Laguna Canyon Road. A total of at least 14 homes and several businesses were destroyed (Tan, 03/05). On 02/25 a wall of mud in Laguna Beach Canyon killed one person and injured 10, two homes were damaged, and eight homes were evacuated (Gerry Wieczorek, USGS). On 02/26 city officials alerted the residents of 25 canyon homes that their properties might be unsafe based on a city-hired geologist investigation (Tan, 03/05).

http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:dga-WOdraqIJ:www.consrv.ca.gov/CGS/thp/ls_response/ls_la.htm+bluebird+canyon,+california&hl=en

[Howlin]

I was on a thread yesterday with two brave ladies who live in San Francisco....ya should've seen the nasty stuff said.

What kind of thread were women from SFO being attacked on?

[Brad’s Gramma]

I don't remember which thread. (sorry) They're Freepers, who live in SF, being attacked for living there by other Freepers.

Something like that.


Now wasn't THAT a wealth of information? :)

[Brad’s Gramma]

FR MAIL! I found it! :)

[steve86]

I could be mistaken, but I thought that Lloyds of London (and probably some other companies) would insure almost anything.

I heard on the radio today that LoL did offer landslide insurance, but the terms were very restrictive, few policies were issued, and the premiums were about $3,000 annually per million dollars of coverage.

[Marysecretary]

Awful. At least they'll be cheap now. You can buy em and move em to safer ground (smile). I feel sorry for the owners but they should know better.

[SunnySide]

" KCBS reporter said he didn't want to speak out of turn, but he'd be shocked if ANY of the homes are going to be covered by insurance for this. Landslide, earthquake, flood insurance is just not something people can afford here. "

Insurance companies would go broke if they allowed such high risk homes insured at reasonable coverage rates like regular home insurance. crazy crazy crazy. Sad but any one with common sense knows these type of areas are the highest risk areas to have a home.

[pnz1]

Wow. Will these people be able to salvage any of their belongings out of these homes?

[Dad yer funny]

I get "whacked" sometimes for living in NYC , there are all kinds of FReepers

[al baby]

looks like the dnc