Mudslide Cleanup Continues in Los Angeles Area

La Canada Flintridge - Bulldozers and dump trucks returned today to the foothill areas of Los Angeles County damaged by mudslides a week ago, as the sheriff's department urged residents to remove their vehicles if it rains again.

Residents, their friends, government crews and contractors labored from Sunland east through the hills of Tujunga, Montrose, La Crescenta, La Canada Flintridge and Altadena.

"I've never seen so much mud come down," said Randy Hawk, a Sunland native who was helping his friend remove debris from a friend's house in Paradise Valley. "There's a couple of us, we brought shovels, wheelbarrows, gloves, boots and dirty knock-around clothes."

Meantime, volunteers fanned out in the steepest sections of the Crescenta Valley with letters from the sheriff's department.

"Last Saturday, many vehicles were damaged, and one vehicle was pushed four blocks down one of our steeper roads," sheriff's Capt. David M. Silversparre said in the letter. "We are requesting that you do not park vehicles on `your' street when it is raining or when a rain event is forecasted."

The sheriff's department also said it will tow vehicles, at the owners' expense, if they are parked on the "high risk" streets where the letters were hand-delivered today.

"This doesn't seem like overkill, it seems pretty smart because you are at risk up here," said Corrine Terrell, who was helping friends on Irving Avenue in La Crescenta today. "That's a good safety precaution considering what happened last week."

The parking precautions came as cleaning, shoveling and debris-hauling was in high gear all along a 10-mile stretch of the foothills that was singed by the Station Fire in September, and turned into sluiceways for muck and water by last weekend's steady rain.

City crews began picking up soggy household belongings along Ocean View Boulevard in the Paradise Valley neighborhood. Officials advised residents to pile trash on the street side of K-rail barriers set up along the road to keep flows out of homes.

Damaged carpets, furniture and other household items should be left on the residential side of the K-rails, while electronic items being thrown out should be left in a separate pile.

After today, La Canada Flintridge crews will pick up bulk trash upon request, officials said.

Household hazardous waste, including lawn and garden care products, fluorescent lights, paint, automotive fluids, batteries and cleaners, will be picked up at a later date by the Department of Toxic Substance Control, city officials said. These materials should be separated, kept off streets and handled as little as possible, city officials said.

"Owners of properties that have been red-tagged may not enter their dwellings without a city building inspector present," La Canada Flintridge officials said in a statement updated Friday.

Volunteers are available to help Paradise Valley residents dig out, city officials said. They can send a message to mudslidevolunteers@lcf.ca.gov or call (818) 790-8880 to request assistance.

It was seven days ago that a boulder plugged up a key drain in the Mullally catch basin during a steady downpour, and mud and debris flowed through the Paradise Valley neighborhood in a surprise, early morning wave of destruction.

Although the Paradise Valley neighborhood took the worst hits, canyon and hillside neighborhoods all along the mountain front also suffered mud problems.

Local officials have blamed the U.S. Forest Service for causing the mudslides by allegedly botching the Station Fire firefight, and have asked for federal funds to help with the cleanup.