Landslides in La Honda destroys homes' foundations
LA HONDA, Calif. (KTVU) - The series of storms that pounded the Bay Area has delivered a devastating blow to one community. Three homes in the mountain community of La Honda are now red tagged because of a landslide and fourth home is threatened.
Families living in the coastal town of La Honda call it a slice of heaven, but now once picturesque Scenic Drive looks like a bomb went off due to a severe landslide. The road is buckling forcing families like the Worthington's to evacuate.
“It’s really hard,” said Robbie Worthington of La Honda. “My parents are the ones who have owned this home the whole time. They just lost everything and that was their retirement.”
Worthington estimates the moving earth shifted 10 feet, destroying the home's foundation leaving broken glass and cracks in the sheetrock.
“There’s nothing you can do,” said Worthington. “This is Mother Nature and we tried our hardest to protect the house.”
His home is one of three homes red-tagged. Worthington snapped a picture of the landslide earlier this month. He now estimates parts of the road dropped as much as 15 feet.
Residents said a previous water leak saturated the ground. This month's storms caused the ancient landslide to reactivate and a water main to snap creating a chasm.
“There’s just huge cracks, huge divots, practically cliffs now it used to be smooth hillside,” said Worthington.
The slide goes underneath his neighbor's home. It appears it's falling over. Another home's deck is now detached.
The landslide took down trees and power lines.
“It’s unbelievable and it's the furthest thing we thought would ever happen to the house our parents built,” said Sherry Johnson of La Honda.
Johnson lives above the slide. She’s desperately trying to save her home, placing tarps to divert water off her property.
“The slide is potentially dangerous,” said Johnson. “I’m scared and we are packing.”
The families who are affected are now talking to state and local legislators to get financial assistance. In the meantime, they hope the county officials makes this area a priority to shore up the road so no more homes are lost.
If you’d like to help the families, the community has set up Go Fund Me pages:
Robbie & Chelsa’s Landslide Fund:
https://www.gofundme.com/worthingtons-landslide-fund
Worthington’s Landslide Recovery:
https://www.gofundme.com/worthingtons-landslide-recovery
Marty Bollman Landslide Support:
https://www.gofundme.com/ShowUpForMarty