La Habra apartment building red-tagged after rain causes wall collapse

LA HABRA, Calif. (KABC) -- An apartment building at Las Lomas Gardens apartments in La Habra was evacuated after a wall collapsed and damaged multiple cars on Sunday night.

Greg Raap, with Las Lomas Gardens management, said Building G was red-tagged by the city.

Work is underway to secure the area around the building after heavy downpours caused a portion of a 10-foot retaining wall that separates the parking lot and the building to collapse.

"This is not something that we anticipated would have been a failure like that," Raap said.

No one was hurt when the wall came down, but three parked cars were damaged.

People whose cars were impacted say there was little time to react.

Oksana was visiting her mother who lives at Las Lomas Gardens.

"I just parked here. I went upstairs and I come down and this is it," she said.

"I heard the alarm. I went down and it was already collapsing," Gus Maida said.

Raap said Building G, which is made up of 16 units, was evacuated.

He said structural engineers and contractors are on the scene assessing the damage, and its impact on people who live here.

"In fact Building G doesn't look like itself has any damage and we're still trying to confirm that," Raap said. "It's just in a position that's very, very close to that retaining wall. Again, we don't want to make any assumptions or assertations until we have the structural engineers look at that."

In all, 31 people were forced out of their homes.

Raap said they are arranging housing accommodations until the building is deemed safe and they can get those affected back in their homes.

Las Lomas Gardens is inspecting other retaining walls on the property to make sure they're safe.

They're also working with the city on short term and long term solutions.