Evacuees return to muddy homes

February 8, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

LA CANADA FLINTRIDGE, Calif. (AP) — Residents evacuated from foothill communities deluged by weekend mudslides north of Los Angeles were allowed to return home Sunday as crews moved debris and cleared catch basins in anticipation of more rain later in the week.

The final evacuation order was lifted for about 70 homes in the Paradise Valley area of La Canada Flintridge, said Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Guillermina Saldana. Only residents with valid identification were allowed back into the neighborhood that was choked with a thick layer of mud and debris during a pummeling rain early Saturday.

Forty-three homes in the La Canada Flintridge area were damaged and 500 more evacuated Saturday after mud and water overflowed basins and surged into streets, taking furniture, cars and concrete barriers with it. Nine houses were declared unsafe to enter. About 25 vehicles were damaged.

“In my 20 years of fire service, this is the first time I’ve seen this much devastation caused by a weather system,” Los Angeles County Fire Battalion Chief Mike Brown said while walking past suburban homes with thigh-deep mud in their yards.

Los Angeles County public works crews used bulldozers and other heavy machinery to move boulders, scoop out catch basins and clear roads.

“That series of storms two weeks ago, we took about 300,000 cubic yards of material out of our debris basins,” LA County Department of Public Works spokesman Bob Spencer said. “This is going to be about the same.”

The mayor of La Canada Flintridge, Laura Olhasso, said Sunday the U.S. Forest Service should pay to help remove the mud and debris that came down the mountains from federal land denuded by wildfires.

“The federal government is not taking responsibility for the flow of mud that came from its property,” Olhassa said. “They say there’s nothing they can do to keep it from flowing, then they need to help clean it up. They need to be responsible property owners.”