A landslide overnight took down at least one home, damaged some others, and prompted some residents to evacuate in a hillside Sherman Oaks neighborhood on Wednesday.
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Firefighters responded to a residence on N. Ventura Canyon Avenue at 2:51 a.m. after receiving reports of a large tree and wires down in the backyard, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department. Firefighters also found a large portion of a hillside that slid down toward at least two homes.
“It sounds like the initial debris flow started above the house that was destroyed, [and ]made its way down,” Captain Cody Weireter with LAFD told KNX News’ Jon Baird. “Those two homes that were above the house that was destroyed, that foundation sort of separate[d] on an outside pool area.”
He added that firefighters were dewatering the pool to reduce the stress fracture on the side of the pool construction.
“The debris flow came down and actually severely and significantly damaged the home that was under construction,” he said.
The two homes above were evacuated.
Some residents told KNX News’ Jon Baird they were watching a movie when they heard the fire trucks. A man named Riley said he took a look at the impacted property.
“A pool collapsed, caused a mudslide in, destroyed,” he said. “I just went up there to go take a look. I've been looking at it for a couple of hours now. Completely destroyed a house under construction there.”
One woman said she’s having a geologist come out to make sure her house is ok.
The Department of Building and Safety is assessing the integrity of the structures and hillsides, LAFD spokesperson Nicholas Prange told City News Service.
The fire department is waiting to send the drones up to assess the hillside.
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