Mudslide Victims Weigh Options

Hoping the worst is behind them, a group of West Hills residents--left temporarily homeless last week by a devastating mudslide--began the daunting task Tuesday of figuring out how to repair the damage and stave off future disasters.

The big problem: Where will all the money come from?

Although all five homes affected in Friday’s mudslide have been deemed salvageable by city inspectors, officials told the owners at a Sunday night meeting that they will need to hire soil and structural engineers to aid them with repairs aimed at rescinding the “red tag” orders forbidding occupancy of the houses.

They must also develop a long-term plan to fix the slope so it no longer threatens the structures.

The families can look forward to at least a temporary reprieve from the rainy weather that apparently triggered the mudslide, because forecasters predict no more showers until Thursday afternoon, when a large storm is expected.

The Friday morning mudslide ripped a 200-foot-long gash across a hillside between Napa and Malden streets. Residents on Napa awoke to find their backyards had collapsed into the backyards of their neighbors on Malden and on Shoup Avenue.

How quickly the repair work is completed, according to city officials, will depend on how fast the homeowners are able to raise the money needed to hire the engineers and do the necessary work.

“It’s really up to them,” said David Keim, the city’s principal building inspector. “I know some of them have insurance problems and are looking for funding.”

What the price tag will be has not been estimated.

The residents planned to meet Tuesday night, probably the first of many meetings as they hash out a recovery plan. They planned to gather at Frank Julian’s Malden Street home, which on Tuesday received a partial yellow tag--an upgrade from the red tag--from city building inspectors, allowing him to enter parts of the house but not to live in it.

Though his living room was pierced by a sliding tree, Julian’s home suffered the least damage and he remained confident that city building inspectors would soon green-tag the dwelling so that he can move back in.

Other disaster victims, however, predicted a long road ahead. An overwhelmed and depressed Richard Magdaleno attempted to size up his family’s situation earlier in the afternoon as he stood before his Shoup Avenue home. Magdaleno’s backyard was inundated by thick mounds of mud when his neighbor’s backyard collapsed into his.

“I’ve talked to my insurance company and we’re not covered for earth movement,” Magdaleno said. “I don’t know which way to go. It’s not my neighbor’s fault that the hill slid, but it’s certainly his dirt in my yard.”

Still, Magdaleno said he hopes the five families caught in the disaster will remain united through what he predicts will be a lengthy recovery process. “I honestly don’t believe it’s going to be a quick fix,” Magdaleno said.

Neither does Minnie Rodrigues, whose home sits above Magdaleno’s. Rodrigues’ garage became a dramatic symbol of Friday’s disaster when it slid down the hill with her car inside.

“I imagine it will take at least a year to repair all this,” said Rodrigues, who with her husband, Floyd, is staying with relatives in Reseda until they find a rental home. “And it’s going to cost a lot. We’re both 73. We thought we were set. Now we’re going to have to start all over again.”

Rodrigues said she has already had a geologist out to survey the scene and has been told that a retaining wall will have to be installed to prevent more slippage. City officials, however, have advised the homeowners that any construction should wait until the rainy season is over.

For their part, city officials have pledged to grease the wheels for the massive repair project. They have promised to assign a case manager who will help expedite the project through the city’s bureaucracy by advising the group on permit and inspection requirements.

“Whatever the city can do to help them safely reoccupy their homes we’re going to do,” Keim said. He added that it remains to be determined whether two garages damaged in the slide are salvageable.

In the meantime, city engineers have taken a number of steps to temporarily shore up the hillside and to keep water from soaking into its soil. The temporary measures, explained David Hsu, a geotechnical engineer with the Department of Building and Safety, include installing wood bracings to shore up the buildings.

To prevent rainfall from soaking the bedrock, making it slippery, workers used sandbags and large white plastic tarps to cover the slide area, Hsu said. They also installed a temporary drainage system and built a catch basin so that water will drain away from the hole and into the street.

“The shoring system and drainage and erosion system we put up is nothing but temporary,” Hsu said. “There is an urgent need for property owners to put one up permanently.”

But on Tuesday, many of the homeowners appeared to be more occupied with just making it through the day. Rodrigues needed to get her husband to a doctor’s appointment and begin thinking about where the couple will live until the repairs are completed.

“I just don’t know where to start,” she said.

Back on Shoup Avenue, Magdaleno spent the day moving furniture out of his home as did another of his neighbors on Malden Street. Later in the afternoon, Magdaleno planned to meet with Red Cross officials who may end up helping his family with the first month’s rent at an apartment or rental home.

The Red Cross has been helping two of the families caught in the disaster by offering them money for food; the relief organization may also end up storing some of their property, according to Mike Powers, a Red Cross spokesman.