Mulholland Drive mudslides endanger homes, prompt road closures

With the torrential rains soaking Southern California since Sunday, some residents along a stretch of Mulholland Drive have been battling significant mudslides and washouts.  

“I’ve never seen anything like this ever,” resident Irina Braun told KTLA’s Rick Chambers.  

A mudflow has pushed past Braun’s home, which is in the hills off Laurel Canyon. The debris and mud are coming from a neighbor’s hillside just two doors down.  

“No one has lived there for quite a while,” she explained. “It used to be the Glenn Campbell estate decades ago.”  

That property, which sits at the top of Edwin Drive, has since been red-tagged, meaning it is no longer inhabitable.  

The city has also closed Mulholland Drive between Bowmont Drive to Skyline Drive as crews with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power replace power poles and clear out the debris from a half dozen small mudslides.  

“We had lots of rain. We’ve had power outages a lot, but the hillsides sliding down and the houses sliding here has never happened,” Braun said.  

This season, it’s been happening all around her home, which she said has been very unsettling.

Just a few days ago, two homes on Lockridge Road, directly below Edwin Drive, were pushed off their foundations by a river of debris. Seven other properties had to be evacuated.  

Residents said roadblocks and detours brought on by the storm are an aggravation for those living in the area.  

“To get to school, I take Mulholland all the way because my school is on Mulholland,” Lola Braun said. “So, it’s definitely annoying because instead of 30 minutes, it’s going to take me now, like, an hour with traffic.”  

Fortunately for everyone, there have been no reports of injury as a result of the mudslides, but the rain has started to fall again and it’s unclear just how much more the already-soaked slopes can take.