Hillside Appears Stable for Now, but Residents Remain in Limbo

The first signs that Steve Schade’s backyard was slipping came last week.

“The ground gave way and we lost 3 to 5 feet from the back,” he said. Schade and his wife, Susanne, were among nearly two dozen Mission Viejo residents in six homes who were evacuated as a precaution Tuesday night by Orange County sheriff’s deputies.

The slippage behind Schade’s hilltop home exposed pipes and caused concrete patios to buckle at houses on a street 70 feet below.

On Wednesday, residents of the six homes remained out of their homes, including the Schades, who live in the 24400 block of Encorvado Lane. Occupants of five homes below them, on Ferrocarril, also evacuated.

Among them were about a half dozen clients at a board and care facility on Ferrocarril, operated by Good Shepherd Communities in Fountain Valley. The residents had been moved to other Good Shepherd facilities in Mission Viejo even before the evacuation order was given, said a spokeswoman.

On Wednesday, some residents returned to their homes just long enough to grab small belongings. The voluntary evacuation may last several more days, authorities said.

There was no marked slippage Wednesday, as city officials began an investigation into its cause. A geologist will examine the hillside and determine the extent of the slope movement, said Paul S. Catsimanes, assistant to the city manager.

The geologist’s report may not be done for 10 days.

“Until that time, we don’t know what we’re dealing with,” said City Engineer Richard Schlesinger. “But as of now, it appears to be isolated to those [six] homes.”

Schlesinger, who inspected the homes and hillside, said that he saw stucco falling off cinderblock walls, trees leaning over and concrete slabs arcing upward. But the homes have no structural damage, he said.

Southern California’s recent rainstorms were a contributing factor to the hillside movement, Schlesinger said.

Linda Rogers, who lives on Ferrocarril with her parents, looked forlornly at the yellow tape put up around her house by sheriff’s deputies. Her family was in the middle of remodeling, she said.

“We had just finished putting in new kitchen cabinets and we were going to put in the countertops, and now this,” Rogers said. “I wonder if Home Depot can take back the countertops?”

The slope movement prompted homeowners such as Rogers and Schade to check their home insurance policies to determine whether they were covered for damages. Both said they believed they lacked coverage but intend to further review their insurance documents.

Schade, 51, who is a property manager, said losing part of his backyard had given him a better appreciation of his neighbors.

Together they went to a hardware store to get plastic sheeting and spent Tuesday covering Schade’s backyard and a portion of the hillside for protection against rain. “The neighbors have been great,” he said.