The hillside cascaded down like a brown river as authorities were evacuating about 200 residents from the area. Trees and vegetation were carried away, leaving huge gashes of raw earth on the bluff. Some residents made their way from the area clutching pets, luggage, or clothing as the huge mass of mud bore down. Some huddled together or cried as they talked on cellphones.
"It lasted a long time. It was slow-moving. The roofs of the houses were crashing and creaking real loud and there was a huge rumble sound," said Robert Cardoza, a construction worker who was clearing debris from a nearby highway.
As rescuers combed the debris and dropped listening devices into the rubble, geology experts with air horns watched the hillside above, ready to sound an alarm if it moved. But as a driving rainstorm pounded the area late last night, authorities decided it was too dangerous to continue searching through the mud and debris, which had piled up 30 feet high.
The wet, windy weather isn't expected to let up until tomorrow, with as much as 6 inches of rain forecast in the region through today and an additional 2 feet of snow at elevations above 7,500 feet.
"We're going to be getting more of the same, harsh weather," said Curt Kaplan, a National Weather Service forecaster.
La Conchita is a slip of a town pressed between a highway and a towering coastal bluff. Several houses were damaged by a mudslide here during powerful storms in the 1990s.
The destruction at La Conchita was the worst disaster of the storms to date, but mudslides and flooding were reported throughout the region, blocking road and rail travel and forcing a shutdown of interstate petroleum supply lines.
Over the weekend, a man was killed when his vehicle plunged into the surf off Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, and a homeless man died when the hillside where his tent was pitched gave way.
