Some Canyon Dwellers Between Rock and Soft Place

The inhabitants of funky and iconoclastic Canyon Acres, arguably one of the most storm-vulnerable neighborhoods in all of Southern California, are scurrying to prepare for what some fear is another date with disaster.

Two men were killed, nine others were injured and dozens driven from their homes last week when a heavy storm unleashed a wall of mud in Canyon Acres and a nearby enclave of artists, writers and other devotees of rural canyon life.

More rain is possible today and some survivors of the last calamity, among the worst in the Southland, are worried and angry.

The next mudslide “is like the barrel of a gun pointed right at my house,” Jerry Colburn said Wednesday.

His two-story place is one house away from the shattered remains of the 900-square-foot cottage where Nicholas Flores, a 43-year-old caretaker to an elderly man, was buried under an avalanche of mud in the last storm. With the upcoming rains, Colburn, 44, a freelance writer, figures that he will be the next victim.

And he bitterly complains that relief agencies only help people whose homes already have been damaged or destroyed, but not people like himself, who feel in danger and have no place to go.

“I’m trying to get out of here and they won’t give me any help,” said Colburn, who rents his dwelling in Canyon Acres and wants relocation assistance. “They say their hands are tied.”

For others whose homes are in ruins, plans to move are the first priority. Some are veterans of other crises to hit Laguna Beach, including the firestorm five years ago that scorched more than 400 homes.

“They lived through the fires in ’93 and all that disaster,” said Bridget Hoff, 37, pointing to a neighbor’s house across the street. “But this last time, the fear is just too real. It’s a real tragedy.”

Judy Iannaccone, a spokeswoman for the American Red Cross, said canyon dwellers whose houses haven’t been damaged and who haven’t been advised to evacuate don’t qualify for disaster aid from the Red Cross.

“If there’s no damage and they haven’t been asked to leave, it’s a sad thing, but our service is about disaster-caused needs,” Iannaccone said. “If there has been no disaster at their home, we would not, according to our policies, be able to help them. Our hands are tied in a sense, because we really have limits.”

However, for disaster victims, the Red Cross does provide for emergency needs--everything from food and temporary shelter to transportation and home repairs.

Federal Emergency Management Agency officials in Sacramento have similar guidelines: Federal disaster assistance is limited to those who have suffered damage or are in a “mandatory evacuation area,” but not to residents who fear they will suffer damage but who have not been advised to leave.

“Those people who are really stressed out over this really should contact the county mental health department to try and resolve some of these anxieties,” said FEMA spokesman Eugene Brezany.

But that’s small help for residents of this picturesque community, where vegetable gardens bloom and dirt footpaths meander from one home to the next. During sunny weather, it’s a secluded country paradise, just off Laguna Canyon Road. But with the heavy rains, it becomes a trap.

Mud-flattened trails streak down both sides of the hill overlooking the home Colburn rents, markers of mudslides to come, he said. The weight of last week’s slide gouged a giant crevasse in the slopes above his bedroom window.

Yet his home and the two beside it haven’t been tagged by city officials as dangerous.

“It’s ridiculous,” he said. “The guidelines only consider the condition of the home, not the condition of the terrain around you. That’s fine if you live in the flatlands of the Midwest, but here, it’s the terrain that’s the threat.”

By those same guidelines, “this was a house that was in ‘no danger’ until 9:13 p.m. Monday night,” said Colburn, pointing to his neighbor’s cottage, now a broken hull of dirt and rubble. “There needs to be some common sense here.”

More than 300 homes throughout Laguna Beach were damaged by last week’s rains, City Manager Kenneth C. Frank said. Two of the homes were destroyed and 18 others were severely damaged, he said.

The severely damaged homes have been inspected by the city and two consulting geologists. The city red-tagged 10 homes, including seven in the Laguna Canyon area, which means that the units are uninhabitable and cannot be occupied even for a few minutes. The eight other homes, including six Laguna Canyon residences, have been yellow-tagged, which allows limited access.

Extra police officers, firefighters and road crews will be on duty today. The storm isn’t expected to be nearly as heavy as last week’s, but Frank said the community is vulnerable to any rainfall.

“At any moment, we could have a landslide that we have no indication is coming,” he said.

Residents here are preparing as best they can for the next round of rains. Some have decided to give up and move out, but others are simply digging out the mud from their backyards and bracing to stay.

“We’ve packed up our valuables and we’re putting them at a friend’s house today, but we’re going to stay here till they say ‘Leave,’ ” said Christopher Cunningham, 44, who’s lived in his home for three years.

Wednesday afternoon found Anastasia Sepulveda, 22, shoveling out the 6-foot wall of mud that surrounded her home. She was getting some volunteer assistance from the Southern Baptist Convention’s Disaster Relief crew.

“We’re clearing out this stuff as fast as we can,” said Sepulveda. “We’ve got some sandbags up, but I don’t plan to be here when it starts raining. The Red Cross is putting us up at a hotel.”

But once the rain stops, she’ll be back at her home, rubber boots and shovel in hand.

“In ‘84, the mudslides took out our kitchen. In ‘93, the fires took another building, but we’ve made it for 22 years. If the hills don’t all come down, we’ll be here a little longer,” she said.

Despite residents’ fears, the weather service isn’t overly pessimistic. Rain is possible in Southern California, but forecasters said it wouldn’t be like last week’s pounding storms that resulted in landslides.

“We might not even see any rain,” said Jeff House, meteorologist with WeatherData, which provides forecasts for The Times. “If there are some sprinkles or showers, it shouldn’t be any problems in terms of what there’s been for the last few weeks.”

Also contributing to this report was Times Correspondent Liz Seymour.