Mom and Dad are safely tucked into a nice hotel that allows them to keep their two small dogs too. They had a nice dinner at a favorite english restaurant of theirs, and are settled in for the night. The house is still standing, no mud in house or pool yet, but the side yard is destroyed. During the height of the storm and mudflows last night, there were cars and k-rails literally flowing downhill, stacking on top of one another. Dad said that as they were driving (evacuating) off the hill he saw them clear the road, full of flood-washed cars, k-rails, and a variety of other debris, with a bull dozer to let emergency vehicles through and evacuees out. Here are some links for more information on the flooding and mudflows: Good photo gallery of damage, lots of photos of Ocean View and the devastation on Manistee, at the top of Ocean View: http://is.gd/7RtT8 Mom and Dad know practically every person in this article, some are good friends: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-woman-rescue7-2010feb07,0,1590192.sto... More info: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-rain-web7-2010feb07,0,6286791.story
I just got off the phone with Mom and Dad. They had a horrible night, huge storm, lots of flooding in the streets. So far, their home is still ok, lots of water flowing off hill but not much mud on their property. Many of their neighbors not faring as well. Seven homes were lost during the night in their neighborhood from mudflows. There were also some fatalities in SoCal as people, trying to escape in their cars, hydroplaned and crashed. Some more info in LA Times article here: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/02/
As I was talking to my parents on the phone, the police came to the door and told them to get off the hill ASAP. Another storm cell is moving in, possibly worse than the one that just passed. Mom and Dad were very worried because the flood control folks had not showed up and removed the barriers that allows mud flows to go past house and into street as they have in the past few storms. The reason the emergency crews are not up on the hill is that the flooding and mud on Ocean View is so bad that they are having problems getting trucks and equipment up there. Police have Ocean View closed at Foothill Blvd due to mud, water, and debris in the street, including cars and krails washed down the hill. The police, who have my sincere thanks, are helping Mom and Dad put up some boards, remove others, and put their bags in the car, so they can get them out of there. I got off the phone and asked Mom to call when they got off the hill and were safe. They cannot go to the Arrowhead house, it is snowed in. They have no idea where they are going, but the first priority is to get off that damn hill. I will keep updating the blog as I get more info... GregUpdate 10:28am: http://cbs2.com/local/storm.rain.flood.2.1475006.html
Update 11:09am: Ben Boychuk is providing my best avail. running summary of storm and flood/mud info in #stationfire area right now http://twitter.com/benboychuk/
