As Slide Creeps On, Home Repair Delay Urged : Disaster: Anaheim Hills evacuees have been told they may return home, but geologist says earth is still moving.

Though landslide evacuees in Anaheim Hills have been told that they may return home, the city’s geologist said Thursday that the ground is still moving about an inch a month and suggested that homeowners delay repairing damaged houses.

“Obviously you wouldn’t want to make repairs to a building and three or four months down the road find out (cracks) are recurring,” said Mark McLarty, the city’s geologist.

Asked if the homeowners should wait until the earth is more stable, he said: “If it were my property, I would.”

McLarty’s comments came a day after city officials told residents from 45 evacuated houses that they could start returning to their homes under a “phased reoccupation” plan.

City officials announced that they are lifting the evacuation order on an “area-by-area” basis and letting residents make their own decisions on whether or not to move back home.

Under the city’s plan, residents are allowed to move back in after having a licensed plumber check their water and sewer lines to ensure that there are no leaks.

Five homeowners on Avenida de Santiago have already been given permission to return home this week. The rest of the homeowners are expected to be allowed to resettle over the next four to six weeks.

Although many residents said they were happy to at last be given the choice of returning home, nearly two months after their Jan. 18 evacuation, others were worried about their safety, in light of word that the slide is still moving.

“As far as I’m concerned, a home moving at any speed is unsafe,” resident Gerald M. Steiner said. “I’m not going to be moving back there. You can walk around the house and see new cracks in the area on a daily basis.”

The slide is now moving more slowly than it did before heavy rainstorms in January aggravated the slipping and caused the earth to move as much as 15 inches in some areas, McLarty said. The landslide was first noticed last April, when residents spotted cracks in the streets and sidewalks.

McLarty said the slide has slowed significantly because city crews have pumped millions of gallons of water out of the rain-drenched hillsides. The pumping operation will continue indefinitely, he said.

In some areas, he said, the level of the ground water has been reduced by as much as 16 feet. Lowering the water table, McLarty said, reduces the chances of more slippage after another heavy rainfall.

Although city officials have not declared the landslide area totally safe, McLarty said the “rate of movement of the slide is such that we think it’s possible to live in those homes.”

Nonetheless, he acknowledged that as long as there is any ground movement, there is the possibility of additional damage to homes.

“If the house is wholly within the landslide then it goes along for the ride” without much damage, McLarty said. The problem, he warned, is “where the house sits on the transition between what’s moving and what isn’t.”

To date, at least three homes are known to straddle the slide’s borders. Those homes have been declared unsafe to enter and may ultimately be condemned, city officials said.

Fire Chief Jeff Bowman said the city is planning to install underground gas, water and sewer pipes that will be flexible enough to allow a certain amount of ground movement.

Despite the improvement in the situation, McLarty said he does not know when or if the massive 25-acre landslide will be stabilized.

“Whether or not we can maintain the stability of the slide in the long term is still in question,” he said. “We still have a lot of work to do as far as evaluating the landslide, but right now the rate of movement is very encouraging. . . .

“This is going to be a long and drawn-out affair. It’s not over. It’s good news, but it’s not over.”