Oakland Hills residents evacuated due to landslide

OAKLAND, Calif. (BCN) - A landslide has three Oakland homes red-tagged and others in peril, as rain continues to pound the hills. Already three homes have been red-tagged.

The slide is between Aitken Drive and Banning Drive above Montclair Village.

"My tenant called me, and said there's been a landslide," homeowner Diane Henderson told KTVU, outside her damaged property.

Three homes in a row are too unsafe to occupy, with mud as high as five feet pressing against them and invading through windows and doors.  

"It made it into the back bedroom and into the hallway, and partly into the second bedroom and all through the whole backyard," described Henderson.

Those who live on the upper road are glad no one was driving on it when it collapsed into a steep crater.

"It looks pretty scary over there, half of the road is gone," resident Yosuke Konishi told KTVU, " so it's crazy, crazy that we live here."

Tarps dot the slopes of the Oakland hills, an area prone to slides, especially during such soaking winters. But they don't often cause such extensive property damage.

Residents are wondering if a huge pine tree that fell two weeks ago and cracked the road, might have also damaged a water line, and if water leakage contributed to the slide.

"Something obviously undermined the street," resident Bob Sachs told KTVU, "and I'm guessing a broken water main, but I don't know."

That's possible, says East Bay Municipal Utility District, but the slide is more likely an act of nature.

"Quantity of rain, very moist soils, whether they moved first, whether there was some contribution, it's unclear at this point in time," responded spokesperson Alison Kastama.

Crews have capped water on both sides of the slide to avoid any damage from more movement.

Oakland Public Works says there is no timetable for the red-tagged residents because engineers must assess the stability of the hill, and the homes.

Neighbors are sympathetic.

"I think we're all really happy that everyone below us is safe," resident Pelly Fan told KTVU, "but we're also kind of worried. There's been a lot of rain and this may not be the last slide we have up here."