L.A. storms: Azusa hillside unstable, more evacuations ordered

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Jonah Lavin, 19, and girlfriend Sascha Spiegel 18, enjoy sledding at Big Bear Snow Play. (Francine Or / Los Angeles Times)

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The umbrellas were out as people made their way along Broadway in downtown Los Angeles as a rainstorm lingered over Southern California. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

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Visitors to the Huntington Beach Pier watch the crashing waves during the rainstorm passing through Southern California. (Cheryl A. Guerrero / Los Angeles Times)

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Mud flows down Ridge View Drive in Azusa. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Bob Morales of the Los Angeles County Fire Department checks out landslide damage to a house on Ridge View Drive in Azusa. (Irfan Khan /Los Angeles Times)

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Tony Ramirez places sandbags in front of his home on Ridge View Drive in Azusa. (Irfan Khan /Los Angeles Times)

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A car maneuvers down a flooded street as a passing storm is reflected in the water in El Segundo. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

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A break in the rain brought people out to exercise in Santa Monica. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

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A lone visitor to a Venice skateboard park walks against a stormy sky at dusk. (Genaro Molina /Los Angeles Times)

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The Chess Park at the Santa Monica Pier is flooded after overnight rain. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

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Lorenzo Tatone wades through floodwater to help a neighbor on Ridgeview Drive in Azusa. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

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Caltrans personnel monitor the flow of Calleguas Creek under a bridge on Pacific Coast Highway near Point Mugu. (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

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Brandon Doyle, left, and Shanell Holmes get a close-up view of the fast-moving floodwater at Thurman Flat in the San Bernardino National Forest. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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Arseniy Kalistratoe, 6, left, his mother, Julia, his sister, Uliana, 2, and his father, Andre, stroll in their rain gear on the Seal Beach Pier. (Cheryl A. Guerrero / Los Angeles Times)

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Flooding forced residents on Lake Hughes Road in Castaic to evacuate their homes. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)

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A pedestrian makes her way through an afternoon downpour along Washington Boulevard in Culver City. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

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One person was killed when a big rig lost control on a rain-slicked ramp from the 10 Freeway to the 215 Freeway in Colton, Calif. The body was found near the 10 Freeway below. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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Kalli Tice watches as mud is removed from Rainbow Drive and Sierra Avenue. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Federico Vergara, of Wurstkuche Restaurant, stands ankle-deep in water as he tries to remove debris blocking a drain on South Hewitt Street in the Arts District of Los Angeles. (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

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Rainwater flows into a flood basin above Easely Canyon Estate in Glendora. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Dennis Sanderson trudges through water and flowing mud as he tries to keep drains clear behind his home and those of others on Ridge View Drive in Azusa. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

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A pedestrian walks in the rain past a mural on South Hewitt Street in the Arts District of Los Angeles in February. (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

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A crew clears mud and debris at Hicrest Road and Sierra Madre Avenue in Glendora. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Dennis Madvig, who lives on top of Hicrest Road, watches mud and debris flow down the street in Glendora. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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A Los Angeles County flood control truck monitors North Glendora Avenue. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Ed Heinlein prepares to evacuate his Azusa home due to danger of landslides. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Firefighters visit Azusa’s Ridge View Drive, which is under mandatory evacuation orders. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Ed Heinlein, right, talks to a fire crew about landslide dangers behind his home in Azusa. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Mary Gunckel carries out belongings from her sandbagged home in Glendora. (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)

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Doug Burke of Newport Beach is viewed through raindrops on the Huntington Beach Pier as he videos his son surfing big waves during the first of two storms to hit Southern California. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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A beach walker uses a metal detector to search for treasures in Huntington Beach amid stormy skies, high tide and high surf during the first of two storms to hit Southern California. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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Temporary barriers are installed along Lorain Avenue in Glendora. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Residents watch the installation of temporary barriers along Lorain Avenue in Glendora. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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A crew installs K-rails along Lorain Avenue to thwart a potential mudslide in Glendora. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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A Los Angeles County flood control crew observes Easley Canyon flood control dam in Glendora. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Clouds shroud the Angeles National Forest after a morning rainstorm on Thursday. (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)

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Robert Ramirez Jr., 8, left, uses his jacket to shield himself and his 4-year-old sister, Jasmine, 4, from the rain during a visit to Ventura Harbor on Wednesday. Their parents, Robert Ramirez Sr. and Vicki Gonzalez, walk behind them. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

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Barbara Albanese fills sandbags at the Glendora City Yard. Glendora officials Wednesday called for voluntary evacuations in the Colby fire burn area ahead of two winters storms expected to douse the region. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Jack Watson carries heavy sandbags from the Glendora City Yard. Glendora residents from the Colby fire burn area collected sandbags Wednesday to protect their homes from the possibility of flash flooding. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Alvaro Sanchez, left, Jack Watson and Salvador Segura fill sandbags at Glendora City Yard. Meteorologists from the National Weather Service in Oxnard warned of the risk of mudslides and debris flows from the burn area. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Gray skies hover over the L.A. skyline. A Pacific storm began to drizzle across the Los Angeles area Wednesday night after dropping an inch or more in Northern California. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

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The view from the Hollywod Bowl Overlook on Mulholland Drive shows gray skies enveloping the Los Angeles area Wednesday. Two storm systems this week could cause mudslides in burn areas and lead to high winds, thunderstorms and big waves along the coast, the National Weather Service said. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

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From the Hollywood Bowl Overlook on Mulholland Drive, the Los Angeles skyline appears surrounded by gray skies. Experts said Wednesday the wet weather is not expected to do much to alleviate drought conditions in Southern California because the rain will be soaked up by dry soil before percolating into the ground. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

By Rong-Gong Lin II

Feb. 28, 2014 5:13 PM PT

An unstable hillside in Azusa prompted police to order evacuations Friday evening of all 26 homes on Ridge View Drive in the Colby fire burn area.

“The hillside is not stable,” said Azusa police Sgt. Sam Fleming, adding there is already 2 to 3 feet of mud in the backyards of two homes on the street.

“Mud is extremely heavy, and people can get stuck real quick,” Fleming said. “Should that hillside go, it’s going to happen quickly. We’re wanting to get as many people out quickly ... because there won’t be a lot of time.”

Ridge View Drive is a U-shaped road in Azusa. Officials had earlier ordered the evacuation of the 10 homes on that street that directly faced the hillside.

A flash-flood watch was in effect for all of Los Angeles County, as officials warned that heavy rain and possible thunderstorms could sweep across the area. The storm is expected to last through Saturday night.

The concern was highest in the San Gabriel Valley foothills, where around 3 p.m. brief intense downpours brought more flows of mud across the Colby burn area in Glendora and the Madison burn area in Monrovia, the National Weather Service said.

Assistant L.A. County Fire Chief of Operations Steve Martin said debris flows are starting to pick up and “the mud is getting thicker.”

“Now is a very important time for us to be diligent in these patrols,” he said.

Martin reminded people to follow the mandatory evacuation orders in Glendora and Azusa because firefighters may be unable to rescue them in an emergency.

“At the risk of sounding coarse … if you are stuck in your house and mud and debris there, were are not going to come get you out while that debris is still flowing,” Martin said.

As the light rain suddenly became a downpour during a 3 p.m. news conference at the Glendora library, somebody yelled, “That’s a microburst, people! That’s what we don’t want!”

“This could be bad,” another agreed.

At an evacuation shelter in Glendora, Mike Schaub clutched the purple leash attached to his 2-year-old German shepherd, Daisy, and considered what to do.

Schaub had come to the Crowther Teen and Family Center in his black rubber rain boots and ripped jeans after evacuating his home on Cairngrove Lane. The land behind his house was still charred from the Colby fire earlier this year, which came to within about 30 feet of the back of his house.

Now, the charred land is mud, which is slowly sliding down the hill.

“It’s the hillside falling down,” he said.

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