Slope Shift Imperils 4 Anaheim Homes

A saturated Anaheim Hills slope began moving Tuesday, threatening four homes and nearby Santiago Boulevard.

The owners of a two-story home at 4039 E. Circle Haven Road were evacuated Tuesday afternoon when a slope above the house began sliding, causing the garage floor to rise nearly 5 feet. Caltrans geologists were already monitoring another slope below the home after the owner reported large cracks in his backyard.

“It just happened too fast,” said Bill Small, who has owned the home with his wife for 26 years. “We had no idea it would go like it’s going.”

Anaheim officials condemned Small’s home and yellow-tagged three others atop on Maple Tree Drive, which is above his house. Yellow tags mean homeowners can enter during the day but not stay overnight.

Caltrans officials also said they were concerned about the slide’s potential effects on a maintenance road and Santiago Boulevard, which is on a hillside above the Costa Mesa Freeway.

The homes, near where the Costa Mesa and Riverside freeways meet, are within a quarter-mile of a Caltrans-owned slope that slid in 1998 while the agency was doing hillside stabilization.

The slide comes several weeks after heavy rainfall drenched hillsides throughout Orange and Los Angeles, affirming what geologists and engineers have been saying: Even when the rain stops, hillsides can take weeks or months to move.

Small said he walked outside his home Tuesday about 8:30 a.m. and noticed one end of his concrete garage floor had risen 2 inches. A concrete walkway on the side of the house had also buckled.

“It didn’t look that bad at the time,” said Small, 78. But within three hours, he said, Anaheim officials red-tagged the home, giving Small and wife Doris just 30 minutes to pack up belongings.

Neighbors helped the Smalls save some china, silverware and a few pieces of furniture before they heard the house begin to creak and groan.

“We could hear it, the creaks and cracks ... like somebody hitting something with a hammer,” Bill Small said. They got out what they could and asked a neighbor to watch their two dogs.

But as Small leaned back in a folding chair propped under an umbrella outside a neighbor’s home, he watched with amusement as firefighters, police, gas company employees, and Caltrans and Anaheim officials milled about.

“This is quite an experience,” he said with a chuckle. “I’d like to sell tickets.”

Later in the afternoon, Caltrans and city officials held a closed meeting for about 50 residents, who didn’t seem impressed with what they had heard.

“They’re not saying much, other than ‘You live in hills and there’ll be rainwater,’ ” said Lisa Osterkamp, who lives in the area. Osterkamp said Caltrans and city officials didn’t appear to be pointing fingers at each other, adding: “But they weren’t taking any responsibility.”

Neither the city nor Caltrans has any plans for a quick fix.