Evacuation orders lifted for mudslide residents as clean-up effort gets underway

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A debris flow damages a home after heavy rains caused mudslides February 6, 2010 in La Canada Flintridge, California. Large wildfires in 2008 and 2009 stripped the hills and mountains of vegetation, resulting in mud and debris flow danger as winter rains pass over foothill communities where thousands of people have been evacuated at times in recent weeks.

Most foothill residents were allowed back in their homes Sunday, but more than 40 houses in La Canada Flintridge were mired in mud and at least nine were uninhabitable -- perhaps permanently.

Arriving at the scene Sunday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger heard local officials demand that the federal government pay for mud removal, because the damage was the product of a small fire that got out of control when Forest Service fire managers scaled back firefighting efforts too early, after the Station Fire first broke out.

A massive boulder clogged the important Mullally catch basin at the top of Ocean View Boulevard early Saturday, and other basins protecting homes on several cul-de-sacs also overflowed with rivers of mud and wildfire debris. Some residents of the area known as Paradise Valley barely got out their homes with their lives.

At a morning news conference, La Canada Flintridge mayor Laura Olhasso blasted the Forest Service for allowing mud to flow from federal land into residential neighborhoods.

The governor promised to "appoint a blue ribbon commission to look into'' those claims.

"It's important for us to come out, right now, and say `what can we do to help?''' Schwarzenegger said. The governor pledged to cut red tape to find disposal sites for thousands of truckloads of debris that must be removed from houses, yards, streets and catch basins.

Most foothill areas got a total of more than 3 inches of rain. Though more rain fell during last month's weeklong storm, the clogged catch basin and the cumulative effect of the rain apparently contributed to the mud flows.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich, speaking at an afternoon news conference, blamed the U.S. Forest Service for failing to commit more resources to the Station Fire in its infancy. The August-September wildfire, which scorched about 250 square miles of forest land, ranks as the biggest on
record.

Henrik Hairapetian and a neighbor rescued 86-year-old Ann Rouman from her slurry-filled home. When Hairapetian reached the woman, who uses oxygen to help her breathe, her hospital bed was floating in waist-high water.

Paramedics were unable to drive up the road, which was turned in a debris-filled torrent, and Hairapetian, who customizes 4-wheel-drive vehicles for the movie industry, drove the woman to a hospital in his Hummer.

On Manistee Drive, just off Ocean View Boulevard, a 20-year-old man was awakened by mud and debris hitting the side of his home about 5 a.m. He made a narrow escape as his window broke and the room started filling with muck.

"It was about 5 a.m. and it was really loud, so I decided to get up,'' said Jennifer Dickens, who lives across the street. "I saw this wave coming. It was like a waterfall hitting the house.''

Cars, 2-ton concrete K-rails, logs and boulders were thrown around like toys, and at least nine homes had mud throughout them. About a dozen others sustained significant structural damage, including partial collapses.

About 25 cars were wrecked, and dozens of swimming pools were filled with mud.

County fire Inspector Matt Levesque said the high-water mark on one home was about eight feet.

Amazingly, no injuries were reported.

Damage to the homes alone is expected to run into the tens of millions of dollars, but public officials have yet to estimate damages or the price of cleanup operations.

During Saturday's storm, other slide-prone areas fared better than Paradise Valley. Mud coated Blanchard Canyon Road in Tujunga but did not invade any homes.

Los Angeles Fire Department Engine 24 got stuck in mud near Big Tujunga Canyon Road and Oro Vista Avenue just before 6 a.m. and needed to be winched out.

Mud piled up about 5 feet high in places along Skyland Drive in Sierra Madre, where about 300 homes were evacuated, but mud-diversion barriers keep flows out of homes.