It’s a race against the clock for city crews as they work to shore up Mulholland Drive ahead of the latest round of Southern California storms.
The soil underneath Mulholland is so severely eroded that the area is no longer structurally sound, officials said.
The hillside communities appear to have been hit the hardest by the winter rain and construction crews tried to make as much progress as they could Friday so that conditions don’t get any worse than they already are.
They’re using massive boulders to contain the saturated, weakened soil that was the product of one of the wettest winters on record. Video from Sky5 showed one area where the road literally caved in.
“I often wondered why there was landslides, or mudslides, but now that I see, these are clay hills and when they get wet, they’re going to loosen up and slide,” said John Shuniak, who has been driving cross country with his son, J. Andrew, with the idea that they’d traverse the entirety of Mulholland during their final stop in L.A.
But now they’re facing a literal roadblock as Mulholland Drive between Coldwater and Laurel Canyons is closed indefinitely.
“You just have to be very careful as you go around because people might be avoiding debris and incoming traffic,” said J. Andrew. “If you’re driving a wide vehicle on these narrow canyon roads, it’s just a really significant concern.”
In the steep hillside community of Hollywood Hills, homeowners are also on alert. A recent slide on Flicker Way led to the destruction of three homes. The homes are completely uninhabitable and are a near-total loss for the homeowners.
Another crumbling hillside in Topanga Canyon from Grand View Drive to Pacific Coast Highway was shut down on March 11 and has remained closed ever since.
The Los Angeles Fire Department says despite the dangers these slides pose, there is one silver lining.
“Fortunately, there’s no significant recent wildfire burn scars in the city of Los Angeles that haven’t had at least a couple years of new growth. But it’s still a good idea to survey your own property,” said LAFD Public Information Officer Erik Scott.
At the moment, none of the Studio City homes atop Mulholland are impacted by this most recent mudslide; the greatest impact is to drivers braving the long and winding roads.
“I’m gripping that steering wheel so tight, you wouldn’t believe it. These canyon roads are dangerous. They really are,” said Shuniak.
It could take city crews weeks to shore up the mountain completely. In the meantime, residents are just trying to make it through the weekend safely.