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.

[Howlin]

For how long?

[Dog Gone]

I'm at home today supervising some plumbing work. The video on Fox News is amazing.

[rabidralph]

Are those orange-colored homes under construction or is that the finished color of the homes?

[Not A Snowbird]

This is what happens when you perch an expensive home on the side of a mountain.

I've been driving through Laguna for years, looking up at those homes and wondering how long it would take for them to come crashing down.

[Robert A Cook PE]

Well, it's not "all" fill problems: the basic soil (San Fran area especially) is unstable, and "creeps" downhill even in pastures (where there is no load or weight on it from buildings at all!) after every rainy season. (Nov-April).

You'll drive by and see huge "scoops" of soil sliding down.

The people to pity are the ones at the BOTTOM of the hill (with 5,000,000 houses) whose neighbors (with 10,000,000 dollar houses) are falling into their living rooms from above.

But - they bought the house. They paid the insurance (?).

[maggief]

They appear to be under construction.

[Gardener]

The slide is in the area of Bluebird Canyon where a huge slide consumed a neighborhood on Oct. 1, 1978. A total of 24 families lost homes in that slide, and all but about six rebuilt there.

Didn't they learn the first time? This is the same as people repeatedly losing houses to hurricanes and floods and continually rebuilding in the same spots.

[bonfire]

Many many dead brain cells.

[Black Tooth]

All the property they built on the edge in SoCal is an accident waiting to happen.

Not quite accurate. Most homes that were built in the last 15 or 20 years had to meet some of the most stringent building codes in the country. The problem is, some areas, not all, were just not met to build on. And this specific area was way over built, according to reports.

[USAFJeeper]

Rich California types building in stupid areas. Count me low on the sympathy scale. They probably voted for Kerry and think Babs is an amazing talent.

[Semper911]

Caller: No, well, not yet - the only reason why I'm still here is with the power out, I can't open my garage door.

You're just messing with us, right? There are not really people who don't know that garage doors can be disconnected and yanked open by hand?

Please, tell me you are kidding...

[Not A Snowbird]

and the insurance companies will be looking for any minute reason not to pay off.

It they can even get insurance. This area was hit with a landslide before.

[al baby]

Better yet cant they just walk ?

[Black Tooth]

Rich California types building in stupid areas. Count me low on the sympathy scale.

With that logic, I guess you could say the same for most everyone in Florida.

[jaydubya2]

Definite lack of common sense by those home owners!
And whoever gave them insurance.

[markman46]

looks like finished homes. this happends everytime we get a lot of winter rain.

[al baby]

Like Rush.

I think I will make some rice crispy treats and go down and give them to those who had to evacuate

[kingu]

You're just messing with us, right? There are not really people who don't know that garage doors can be disconnected and yanked open by hand? Please, tell me you are kidding...

The sick part is that the reporter didn't ask that question, didn't give the guy a clue that he could, indeed, get his rump out of there.

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

Act of God, no. Poor choice of where to build a house, yes.

[Bigh4u2]

By the looks of these photos, some of the house just seemed to have 'relocated'.