news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050601/ap_on_re_us/laguna_beach_landslide
About 1,000 people in 350 other homes in the Blue Bird Canyon area were e vacuated as a precaution. In addition to the houses destroyed, several homes were damaged and a str eet was wrecked when the earth gave way around daybreak in this Orange C ounty community about 50 miles southeast of Los Angeles. "The pipes started making funny noises and the toilet sounded like it was about to explode," said Carrie Joyce, one of those who fled. "I could s ee one house, huge, we call it the mausoleum,' 5,000 square feet or mor e It had buckled, the retaining wall in the front of it was cracked. Residents were alerted to the slide shortly before 7 am by popping and cracking as power poles went down, homes fractured and trees disappeared . People grabbed their their children, pets and belongings and fled as s treets buckled around them. "People were running down the hill like a bomb had gone off. I mean liter ally, they had their bed clothes on," said Robert Pompeo, 56, a retiree whose home is about 75 yards from the ridge where the most homes were lo st.
US Geological Survey said it was almost certainly related to the winter storms that drenched S outhern California. Laguna Beach has been dry since a trace of rainfall nearly a month ago, b ut before that, Southern California had its second-rainiest season on re cord. The region has gotten nearly 28 inches of rain since last July, mo re than double the annual average. The slide occurred about a mile from the beach on steep sandstone hills c overed with large homes. Jill Lockhart, 35, fled with her sons, ages 2 and 4, after being awakened by the noise. She said a teenage neighbor grabbed one her boys as she ran. They abandon ed Flamingo Road and scrambled down the shrub- and dirt-covered hillside as the road began to buckle and plunged beneath their feet. Multistory homes came to rest at odd angles, some nearly intact and other s splintered and trailing debris. One house, snapped in two, had an Amer ican flag fluttering from a balcony. At the top of the hill, the foundations of several homes were left expose d, their corners jutting out with nothing underneath to support them. On e road ended abruptly, with the edge of the pavement hanging over a tang le of debris scattered downhill. Fifteen to 18 homes were believed to be total losses, police Capt. "There is still movement so I think that we are still in a danger zone," Adams said. Sheriff's deputies went door-to-door to check for victims. Two children were admitted to a hospital in good condition, and two other s were treated at the scene for minor injuries, authorities said. A 71-y ear-old woman whose house was destroyed was taken to the hospital, suffe ring what appeared to be the effects of stress. Laguna Beach, offering vistas of the Pacific from coastal bluffs, has som e of Southern California's most desirable real estate. The damaged homes generally sell for $2 million or more, residents said. The neighborhoods have been hit before by flooding, mudslides and wildfir e In February 1998, a rainstorm triggered slides that damaged 300 homes , 18 of them severely, and killed two people. An October 1993 fire swept down into the city and destroyed some 400 homes. And in October 1978, a slide in the same canyon d estroyed 14 homes. Last January, a landslide crashed down into the coastal community of La C onchita, in Ventura County northwest of Los Angeles, killing 10 people. Laguna Beach's Pageant of the Masters a festival in which famous artwor ks are recreated with live actors has drawn crowds for decades. The co mmunity was prominently featured on the MTV show "Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County" that debuted in September, chronicling the lifestyle and love lives of local teens.
A house and vehicle damaged by a landslide are visible from a nearby hilltop Wednesday, June 1, 2005, in Laguna Beach, Calif. The landslide s ent at least five expensive homes crashing down a hill and may have dama ged many others.
The informati on contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewr itten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associ ated Press.
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