AFTER THE DELUGE: CLEANUP CONTINUES : Slide-Area Residents Told to Stay Away : The 45 Anaheim Hills families forced to evacuate can’t go home for at least two weeks.

Residents in the landslide area of upscale Anaheim Hills learned Wednesday night at a packed emergency meeting that they must remain out of their homes at least two weeks.

“This site is extremely unstable,” Fire Chief Jeff Bowman told the more than 200 residents at a meeting at the Anaheim Hills Golf Course. “Your safety is in danger.”

Bowman said the rain-soaked ground beneath some million-dollar homes continued to slide Wednesday, cracking more foundations and increasing the possibility that some houses might collapse.

Three more homes were evacuated along Avenida de Santiago, which is at the top of the potential slide area, bringing the total to 45.

City spokesman Bret Colson said geological tests show that the ground is moving in a northeasterly direction at a rate of one inch a day. In some areas, the ground has moved as much as eight inches since Saturday.

In an attempt to slow the slippage, geologists contracted by the city started digging wells on Wednesday to draw water out of the soil. City crews also drained swimming pools to get as much water out of the area as possible.

City officials say the drenching rains of January accelerated a 15-million-year-old landslide that had been largely dormant until last year.

Twelve homes are in danger of sliding down the hill, while the others are in danger of being buried or collapsing, officials said. At least 25 homes have been damaged by the earth movement, with nine sustaining major damage to foundations or walls.

Police said all of the residents of the 45 homes have now been evacuated, including three families who balked at leaving earlier in the week.

Bowman said that a two-week evacuation was the “best scenario” and that it might last longer.

He said the city was in the process of seeking federal financial assistance for the flood victims, mainly in the form of low-interest loans.

In the small country club restaurant Wednesday night, agitated evacuees and neighbors spilled onto the outside patio, listening intently to city officials’ explanations and predictions.

Although Mark McLarty, a geologist contracted by the city, said the stability of the slide was uncertain, he acknowledged that there was the potential for the earth to move “tens of feet” in certain areas.

Some residents fretted about their situation as they stood shivering in the chilling night air.

“A lot of us are (angry) because the city is briefing the news media but they’re not telling the residents anything,” said Dominic DeMaria, whose home is just outside the evacuated area.

“I can’t even remember the number of my house,” said Jim Thompson, 32, who moved to his Anaheim Hills home only a month ago.

Not all residents were critical of the city’s response.

City officials “seem to be doing their jobs, but they seem to be getting panicky,” said a retired sociology professor who lives on Rimwood Drive who asked that his name not be used. His family left the home voluntarily and is staying with relatives. Cracks have developed in the block walls around his yard, and the sidewalk in front has buckled.

Evidence of further slippage was evident throughout the area Wednesday. At the end of Rimwood, for example, what had been a two-inch bulge in the street Tuesday morning was an eight-inch buckle Wednesday morning and a one-inch gap had developed between the sidewalk and the curb.

On Avenida de Santiago, a crack in the street that was patched over Tuesday evening had become a three-inch break by Wednesday morning. Securely fastened 24 hours earlier, the brick tile on the walkway of one home was beginning to crumble.

The area was subdivided about 15 years ago. Many of the homes were built at that time, though others were built in the last several years.

The slide was first detected last April by Rimwood residents who noticed cracks and bulges in their neighborhood, which they reported to the city in July. Within days, the city hired Eberhart & Stone Inc., a local geological consulting firm, to survey the situation.

The geologists determined that the homes, many of which are worth more than $1 million, are sitting on a landslide zone that hadn’t moved in 15 million years. From July to last Saturday, the ground had shifted one inch, city officials said.

The firm was originally scheduled to submit a report to the city by late February suggesting ways to minimize the ground movement.

“Nobody could know that we were going to have 13 straight days of rain,” Colson said.

The question of who will eventually pay for the damage will likely go unanswered for some time. Most home insurance policies do not cover damage caused by landslides.

Liability “is a hot potato nobody wants to touch, at least until the ground is stable,” Colson said.

City officials said the land was developed 10 to 15 years ago by Pacific Coast Builders, Woodbine, and Texaco Anaheim Hills. At the time, the developers tested the soil which was determined to be solid.

Some residents have blamed the city for not stabilizing the hillsides before the rains came, but city officials reject responsibility.

“It is our opinion that we are not liable,” Colson said.

Attorney Patrick Catalano, who has litigated landslide liability issues in Orange County and other areas in the past, said that it would be difficult for homeowners to win damages from the city because government entities are usually immune to liability from natural-disaster claims.

Catalano and local real estate brokers said homeowners not only have to cope with the damage to their houses, but also the financial losses as their resale value plunges.

“The home values immediately go down the tubes,” Catalano said. “It a bad situation.”

Times staff writer Timothy G. Chou contributed to this story.