Rude awakening

Lauren Vane

When Sherry Way awoke to loud crackling noises at 6:30 a.m. Wednesday

morning, she went outside to investigate.

Her curiosity may have saved her life.

Stepping out her front door, Way could see no damage to her own

home. But neighbors on Bluebird Canyon’s Flamingo Road told her that

homes were sliding and that they needed to leave -- fast.

Next door, Way’s neighbors struggled to get out their house. The

earth had nearly barricaded the front door and they had to force it

open.

Way and her neighbors jumped into a truck and attempted to drive

away, but the road was buckling beneath them and they had to abandon

the vehicle when an electrical pole crashed down and blocked the way.

Barefoot and wearing only a white bathrobe, Way took off on foot

and ran for her life.

“We had to run down the hill, that was the only way we could get

out,” she said.

Hours later, standing safely on Bluebird Canyon Drive, wearing a

borrowed blue hooded sweatshirt and black athletic pants, Way looked

up at the hillside home where she has lived for eight years.

All that was there was a mess of busted wood and shattered glass.

“I got out safe, that’s all I care about right now,” Way said.

Up the street from where she was standing, the slide had shoveled

the earth against an older home on Bluebird Canyon Drive. The wooden

structure seemed almost alive, groaning and snapping under the

pressure. Periodically the sound of glass breaking inside the home

cut through the air like a scream. As the house continued to stir,

gas leaked from broken gas lines and mimicked the noise of a rushing

waterfall. The air filled with a nauseating smell.

Evacuating residents formed a steady line of cars slowly

navigating down the narrow street now packed with fire engines,

police cars, utility trucks and media crews. The residents’ cars were

filled with dogs, birds, suitcases and anything else they could grab.

Occasionally, someone driving by would see a familiar face, lean out

the car window and offer them a place to stay.

One family, with suitcases already packed in the trunk of a car,

took in all the commotion.

Barbara and Jamie Templeton, and their daughter Wray Serna, said

they evacuated their home within a half-hour of hearing about the

slide.

“We tried to figure out what we absolutely need, the most

important stuff,” Barbara said.

Similar to the description given by many residents, they heard a

loud crash when the land began to slide. They left their home when

police drove by issuing a loudspeaker warning that their lives were

in danger.

“It was pretty dramatic,” Serna said.

The Templetons said they would likely spend Wednesday night with

friends.

Evelyn Rowley and her family, who live on Starlit Drive in the

canyon, were greeted Wednesday morning by a police officer issuing a

“firm” warning that they had 20 minutes to pack up and get out,

Rowley said.

Across the canyon, the aerial view from Summit Drive delivered an

astonishing look at the damage. From a distance, the homes appeared

as dollhouses that had been thrown about and left crumpled on the

hillside. Decks, scattered with overturned patio furniture, were

twisted and bent. What appeared to be one home’s garage rested,

nearly vertical, halfway down the hillside. A white SUV near the

center of the slide area teetered on the edge of an asphalt cliff.

Search and rescue helicopters, looking for any movement in the

canyon homes, whirred past a vantage point off Summit Drive where a

crowd of onlookers had gathered. A police car could be seen driving

through the empty streets of Bluebird Canyon; a megaphone message

telling residents to evacuate the area immediately broke the eerie

silence.

Around 10 a.m., when emergency response teams began moving to an

alternate command post near Aliso Beach, the area below the slide

began to quiet down. The media lingered and a handful of residents

remained, staring with dazed expressions at the crumbling hillside

before them.

While Bluebird Canyon has long been known for its unstable

hillsides, the greenery and spectacular views make it one of the most

beautiful places to live, said Ernest Hackmon, a 3-year canyon

resident.

That’s a risk some residents are willing to take, Hackmon said.

“It’s paradise, what are you going to do?” Hackmon said.