Luxury home's pool teeters on edge as massive landslide destroys neighbourhood

14 March 2024 , 20:39

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A pool on the edge of a garden at a luxury home in LA (Image: Getty Images)

A landslide reduced a Los Angeles house under renovation to a jumble of lumber, pulled the pool and deck away from a second home, and left the pool at a third residence on the edge of a huge fissure.

The slide occurred just before 3am on Wednesday in Sherman Oaks, a neighbourhood of expensive homes about 12 miles (19km) northwest of downtown. An initial search found no victims, but several people were evacuated from one house, the Los Angeles Fire Department said in a statement.

There was no immediate word on the cause of the landslide, but numerous slides have happened in Southern California due to drenching winter storms that saturated the ground. Since January 1, downtown LA has had almost 16 inches (41cm) of rain, which is nearly twice what it normally gets by this time of year.

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The pool was damaged following a landslide (Getty Images)

By early February, the city had reported nearly 600 mudslides, had re-tagged 16 buildings as unsafe to enter, and had yellow-tagged more than 30 others, limiting access to them. News helicopter video revealed the extent of the slide.

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The destroyed house, which appeared to be in the midst of a renovation, was crushed with most of its roof lying on the ground. Next door, the slide pulled a pool and deck area away from a house.

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The landslide destroyed two homes and damaged another residence in the Sherman Oaks neighbourhood of Los Angeles (Getty Images)

News helicopter video revealed the extent of the slide. The destroyed house, which appeared to be in the midst of a renovation, was crushed with most of its roof lying on the ground. Next door, the slide pulled a pool and deck area away from a house.

"Department of Building and Safety is responding to assess the structures and hillsides," the Fire Department said. Southern California has seen a lull in storms in recent days, but slides and rockfalls have continued. Sections of Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu and State Route 27 through Topanga Canyon west of Los Angeles have been especially hard-hit.

Damage suffered by homes after the landslide (Getty Images)

South of LA, a notable slide in the city of Dana Point left an ocean-view estate on the edge of a coastal bluff. Some rain could return this weekend, the National Weather Service said.

Meanwhile, massive chunks of hail pelted parts of Kansas and Missouri on Wednesday night, bringing traffic to a standstill along Interstate 70. There were three unconfirmed reports of tornadoes in Wabaunsee and Shawnee counties with reports of damaged structures, but no reports of injuries or homes damaged, according to meteorologist Matt Wolters with the National Weather Service's Topeka office. Survey teams plan to head out Thursday to evaluate the damage, he said.

It is a precarious site (Getty Images)

There were reports of 4-inch (10cm) hail, nearly softball-size, in the town of Wabaunsee and 3-inch (7.6cm) hail in Geary County near Junction City and Fort Riley, Wolters said. Descriptions of the hail ranged from the size of golf balls and apples, to softballs and baseballs.

Alex Sosnowski, senior meteorologist at AccuWeather, previously said the predicted hail was deemed "gorilla hail" because it had the potential to be so big. "Gorilla hail" is a term coined by Reed Timmer, a storm chaser who calls himself an extreme meteorologist, Sosnowski said.

There is lots of destruction (Getty Images)

The weather service also issued a severe thunderstorm watch for parts of Illinois, Iowa, Missouri and Kansas through Thursday morning, after which forecasters said the storm will move to the east. While the hail threat lessens Thursday, meteorologists said heavy rain and high winds were still possible from northeastern Texas through central Missouri.

Chiara Fiorillo