As a storm battered Southern California Tuesday night, heavy rainfall caused multiple mudslides in Baldwin Hills overnight, trapping cars in sludge and leaving several homes on the edge of disaster.
Homeowner Thomas Anderson says he’s doing everything he can to shore up his property even as his next-door neighbor’s home was yellow tagged, meaning they only have limited access to their home but cannot stay in it.
The yellow tag came after mud and debris flowed down their back slope onto El Mirador Drive below.
“Because the hillside went under their slab, one of the bedrooms is right on the edge,” Anderson explained.
Anderson’s property is also in a precarious position.
“We’re doing all we can to hold on, but we’re only this far from the pool, and we don’t want that to go,” he told KTLA. “We just replaced the boards up here to stop the yard from going down and we have a retainer wall right here, but as you can see, it’s falling right down the other side.”
Baldwin Hills residents at the bottom of that mud and debris flow were left with a substantial mess that crews spent the day working to clean up.
“This hillside, they’ve had continuous problems with it,” resident Lanz Alexander said. “This is the first time I think it’s come down this bad.”
Just a few blocks away on North La Brea Avenue, near Kenneth Hahn Park, heavy rainfall caused a mudslide that trapped two cars.
“The water threw me outside, my car, it went over there,” one of the trapped motorists said.
With the National Weather Service forecasting light showers over the weekend with the possibility for a stronger storm next Tuesday and Wednesday, residents feel like they can’t catch a break.
“It’s just daunting, very daunting and then we’re supposed to get more next week,” resident Adrianne Harris said. “So, I hope it’s just not as heavy and just sprinkles.”