Baldwin Hills mudslides block traffic on La Brea Avenue, raise fears over hilltop home
BALDWIN HILLS, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- An overnight mudslide in Baldwin Hills raised fears over the fate of a hilltop home, while another mudslide in the area spilled onto La Brea Avenue and blocked traffic.
"It's kind of scary," said Apryl Sims, whose aunt lives on El Mirador Drive. "I didn't sleep well last night at all, because this happens when it rains this hard and this long."
Sims and her son, who live nearby, rushed over to their family member's home Wednesday morning after hearing that mud had come toppling down from the hillside across the street.
"It's kind of gnarly for her," Sims said. "We came to see if she needed us to move her car, get her something, she said she's fine right now."
Sims and her son, Gyasi Jordan, have been concerned about all the rain saturating the ground.
"I feel for all the elderly residents in the neighborhood that have been here, been entrenched for a long time, that haven't seen something like this since the '70s," Jordan said. "Yeah, it's gotta be terrifying."
Mud came down onto nearby La Brea Avenue overnight, covering all the northbound lanes. The mud rushed down in front of two cars, leaving them stuck.
"This crazy weather that we have going on, it's scary," said resident Kendall Hannah. "But to see the mud sliding, to see the water, how it's building up on the ground as well as on the streets, it's really scary for a lot of people who are not familiar with it. You just kind of have to deal with it."
Crews worked throughout the morning to clear the mud and debris from the roadway. But with more rain expected in the coming week, everyone in the area is bracing for what's to come.
"I hope that the mountain kind of holds up, I hope the rain kind of subsides," Hannah said. "I know it's gotta be scary for the people that are living on the mountainsides. For all of us kind of watching it all happen, it's scary to see."
