Mudslide Traps 5 Vehicles; Closes Topanga Canyon Road
MALIBU (CBSLA) — Heavy overnight rain triggered a mudslide on Topanga Canyon Road in Malibu, trapping several vehicles in mud.
The mudslide was first reported at about 2:30 a.m. and forced the closure of about four miles of Topanga Canyon Boulevard from Grand View Drive to Pacific Coast Highway, according to the California Highway Patrol.
The roadway was covered with up to two feet of mud on the road, along with large rocks and boulders from the hillside. The same stretch of Topanga Canyon Boulevard had already been closed twice this month due to mud slides, and Thursday's slide is in the same general location as one last week, according to Caltrans.
Three people had to be rescued from their trapped vehicles, including Ivan Contreras and his girlfriend, who were going home from a night at the beach. Contreras said it was foggy and raining hard just before the mudslide.
"All we saw was a mudslide coming towards us," he said. "There was nothing we could do."
A total of five vehicles were trapped by the mud.
After last week's slide, Caltrans says they installed several hundred feet of K-rail with fence on top to catch mud and rocks, but Thursday's slide happened over a gully just outside the freshly installed K-rail.
Topanga Canyon Boulevard will remain closed through at least Sunday for cleanup and repairs, according to Caltrans.
Crews working to clear mud and debris from Topanga Canyon Blvd. (State Route 27) following overnight mudslide. Closed from PCH to Grand View in #Topanga until at least Sunday night. @CityMalibu @onetopanga @CHPsouthern pic.twitter.com/5YHCig79Z3
— Caltrans District 7 (@CaltransDist7) March 15, 2018
In the Burbank area, the rain also brought down more mud onto residential streets in areas scarred by the La Tuna Fire. Closures included Country Club Drive at Via Montana, Sunset Canyon Drive at Walnut Drive, and Groten Drive at Hamline Place.
The hillsides where the La Tuna Fire broke out in September of last year remain unstable. Thursday's rain sent a lot of the burned vegetation from those hillsides onto the roadways.
All the closed roads were cleared by crews and reopened by around 10 a.m.
There were no reported injuries from either slide.
(© Copyright 2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)