On the early Wednesday morning in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles, a well-off neighbourhood, a landfall of a giant proportions hit several houses under renovation; these were very much damaged.
The mother of all disasters, which happened just before 3 a.m., took one house away, while the deck and pool of the second home were split off and, worse, the pool of the third just about toppled over a yawning precipice.
Just a 12-mile drive from the downtown LA, the area's being called gold coast is famous for its multi-million dollar homes. Of course, personnel that first arrived on the scene reported no casualties, but evacuation of people for safety reasons is also being implemented.
Why the landslides?
The exact reason for this mass slippage was still unknown. It can be assumed that it has been caused by the recent reinforcement of severe winter storms in Southern California, which resulted in extremely wet soil. This argument is backed up by other similar events in the area, for instance, the mudslides that happened early in January, which caused damages not only in Beverly Crest, but also on a fatal road where the residents found cars buried and a grand piano in the garbage.
{{/usCountry}}The exact reason for this mass slippage was still unknown. It can be assumed that it has been caused by the recent reinforcement of severe winter storms in Southern California, which resulted in extremely wet soil. This argument is backed up by other similar events in the area, for instance, the mudslides that happened early in January, which caused damages not only in Beverly Crest, but also on a fatal road where the residents found cars buried and a grand piano in the garbage.
{{/usCountry}}At the beginning of the year downtown LA had recorded almost two times (41 CM) of rain [nearly the average for this period of time]. After the close to 600 of the mudslides have hit the town, it was reported that 16 buildings were “red-tagged” or marked as unsafe buildings to be accessed (yellow-tagged), and over 30 buildings that were accessible but should be under monitored.
‘We’re…not really moving at this point’
Los Angeles Fire Department Captain Cody Weireter, in an interview with KTLA5 News, indicated that assessments were ongoing to determine if additional properties might be at risk.
“Obviously, the risk is there … We’re at a static situation where it’s not really moving at this point,” stated Weireter.
Aerial footage captured by news helicopters laid bare the scale of destruction. The demolished house, seemingly in the middle of renovations, lay flattened, its roof scattered on the ground.
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The landslide also had dragged away a pool and deck. Further up the slope, a tennis court and another pool were left hanging on the brink of a vast crevice, with a table and chairs once beside the pool now stranded on a fragment of the deck across the gaping divide. But, somehow, firefighters have managed to drain the endangered pool.
The National Weather Service has forecasted the possibility of more rain over this weekend.