Hill Collapses Near San Juan Capistrano Homes

The hillside beneath an exclusive subdivision collapsed Thursday, forcing three families to evacuate, swallowing several backyards and destroying patios and a swimming pool.

There were no injuries or damage to houses from the landslide, which occurred before 8 a.m. in the Meredith Canyon development of this south Orange County community.

Resident John Jay Curtis said he awoke to tremors.

“I went to get a drink of water and looked out the kitchen at my backyard and I saw it was gone,” Curtis said. “It was the shock of my life.”

Looking across the hillside, the attorney saw that parts of his neighbor’s yard had dropped down the slope and that his $80,000 swimming pool had disappeared.

Geologists and city officials were investigating the hillside to see whether a massive grading operation in the canyon and along adjacent hills for the 350-unit Pacific Point project played a role in the landslide. Work on Pacific Point was suspended Thursday.

Officials also said heavy winter rains may have contributed to the failure of the slope, part of a series of hills rising more than 800 feet above the Pacific Ocean.

“We have a lot of ancient landslides around San Juan Capistrano, so we’re always careful when we get grading plans,” said Bill Huber, the city’s director of engineering and building. He could not say whether the slope failure was in the area of a previous landslide.

Thursday’s landslide involved an estimated 300,000 cubic yards of dirt, an area about 600 feet in diameter off Camino Las Ramblas.

“It’s a big slide, a huge slide,” Huber said.

At the bottom of the hill, crews for Anaheim developer SunCal Cos., were grading land for the Pacific Point project. City officials said the grading has been going on for about six months and requires the movement of 9 million cubic yards of dirt across the hills and canyons of southern San Juan Capistrano.

SunCal officials, through their attorneys, Newmeyer & Dillon of Newport Beach, said they willwork with the city to devise a plan to stabilize the hill and said they were “genuinely concerned about the safety and welfare” of homeowners.

Residents said SunCal has offered to pay for temporary relocation costs.

American Red Cross officials said they would provide assistance to evacuated families.