Work to stabilize land at the Newport Beach residential landslide site continues
A landslide in Newport Beach Friday, March 3, put three homes in danger, causing residents to vacate for their safety. Cleanup and further assessment of the land continues Wednesday as crews work to stabilize the land as best as possible before Friday's forecasted rain.
The bluff collapsed around 10:45 a.m. in the 1900 block of Galaxy Drive, falling into the Upper Newport Bay Ecological Reserve below.
Homeowners are not allowed to live in the three homes, as the one with the most severe damage is red-tagged. Neighboring homes on both sides of that house are yellow-tagged, meaning they are safe to enter with caution but may not be occupied.
So with rain in the forecast, heavy furniture was being moved out of the red-tagged home Wednesday.
Geologists have been on site for days watching all three affected properties and crews continue to work on the bluff as city officials say the slope is still moving five days after the initial slide.
One neighbor said he hopes more houses aren't affected. "Everybody needs to be on alert because we don't need any more houses damaged it's horrible what's happened to this house," said neighbor Jack Kayajania.
City workers have inspected the storm drain under the slope. They say it was functioning properly until the landslide damaged it. That system has now been bypassed. City officials said the next step is to bring in a drill and go down through the street to pull out any water that has pooled underground.
"The city is doing everything it can. We have pumps to divert water away from this property. We're going to drill down and try to extract any water that is down below. And allow the residents to do anything they can to protect their hillside and prevent any water and future water accumulation," said Erik Weigand, Newport Beach city council member
Weather will influence the speed at which the work can be done.
The cause of the landslide remains undetermined, as geologists continue to investigate the soil samples.