Angela Schuetz and her husband were watching the end of the president’s State of the Union address inside their Mount Soledad home Monday when they were startled by the sound of gushing water.
“We heard all the rushing water,” Schuetz said. “I ran to the back and saw our shed had moved, and there was gushing water.”
She said they also had an old chicken coop ” empty from a previous raccoon attack ” that had moved down the hillside. Several neighbors’ yards were also affected by the slide.
Fire department and city personnel evacuated Schuetz and her neighbors around 8 p.m. at the 7700 block of Sierra Del Mar, along with residents on the 1700 block of Soledad Avenue, but SchUetz’s husband refused to leave.
“We knew our house would be okay,” Schuetz said. She left anyway, going to a friend’s house, while her husband stayed, she said. But Schuetz shares the edge of her backyard with her neighbors, who may not have fared as well.
The slide, at the 7700 block of Sierra Del Mar, where the Schuetz residence is located, shares property lines with homes on the 1700 block of Soledad Avenue. But some residents on Soledad Avenue said they were “reluctant to talk” about the incident.
“What I understand was that the initial reports said that it was the pipes from the homeowner’s backyard,” said Arian Collins, spokesman for the City of San Diego Water Department.
And according to a statement released Tuesday, Jan. 29 by Mayor Jerry Sanders’ office, the city’s water and storm drain systems were not the cause of Monday’s slide.
“This was not a landslide and is unrelated to the ancient landslide site on Soledad Mountain Road that reactivated last October,” the press release states. It refers to the slide as a “debris flow.”
The mayor’s office said soil in the area was saturated from heavy rains. Eventually, mud slid down the hill, encroaching in others’ yards, breaking sprinklers and spraying water. When the fire department arrived, IT shut the water down until homeowners located the shut-off valve for their sprinklers. There was minimal damage done to homes, save the mess from the mud.
“It’s always possible that something will change once someone begins the investigation,” Collins said.
The Oct. 3 landslide on the other side of Mount Soledad resulted in property loss and, according to attorneys representing the homeowners, loss of home value. While that landslide occurred on city property, this slide, officials said, is on private property. Homeowners affected by the October landslide are suing the city because of a series of events they say caused the slide, including water main and other leaks.