North Bay apartment dwellers displaced by destructive mudslide
FAIRFAX -- Nearly 20 Marin County residents have been forced out of their homes after a mudslide crashed into an apartment complex in Fairfax. It's an area that has suffered quite a bit of damage from the series of storms.
The Wine family from Fairfax was packing up what they could after their home was red-tagged on Friday.
"I'm still trying to grasp that this is really happening," said Lovely Wine. "I got a call from my niece. She was terrified and screaming and said that a tree had gone through the bathroom window."
According to Marin County Fire, the mudslide displaced 19 people from six units on the property along with seven dogs and four cats. Two of the units are red-tagged. Another four are yellow-tagged and all are unsafe.
"We just wanted to stabilize the situation -- get people out of harm's way and ensure people don't return to a hazardous situation," said Bat. Chief Graham Groneman.
Lovely Wine did return to grab the rest of her belongings out of her home before firefighters left. While her family has a hotel room for the night, it's what happens next that scares her the most.
"This is one of the biggest fears I've ever had in my life. I was homeless aging out of foster care up until I was 27 until my first-born and now I'm here homeless again with all four of my kids," Wine said.
Wine and her family lived at the duplex for the past three years. She says it's the safest place she's ever lived and is the perfect home for her children. While her future is in limbo, her first priority is to stay strong for her children.
"I was born with this natural resilience of having to be strong, even when I'm weak and I never really had a choice. I'm just trying to stay positive and trying to gather some resources that I'm familiar with and just take it a day at a time, I guess."
