Home that survived Palisades Fire is destroyed in mudslide

A hillside home that survived the Palisades Fire then later cracked due to land movement from the blaze was crushed recently likely due to wet weather and a water main break that may have been linked to the firefight.

Over the last several months, a home on Castellammare Drive was slowly moving down the hillside it rested on. After slowly sliding down the slope, the home cracked in half and was destroyed under its own weight and that of the land above.

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Los Angeles’ Bureau of Engineering said the cause of the landslide has not yet been determined. However, Nate Onderdonk, professor of Earth Sciences at California State University Long Beach said water could be to blame for the burned properties above sliding down and the hillside giving way.

“The hillside didn't get steeper magically,” Onderdonk said. “You know, the rock type didn't change but if you add a whole lot of extra water, what you do is you destabilize that hillside.”

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The excess in water could have potentially come from rainy weather this season and a possible water main break that may have been linked to January’s firefight.

“If this is just an isolated incident of a water main break at this one location, I would not think that that's indicative of broader landslide problems in the burn area until you've got additional water from storms or something like that,” Onderdonk said.

The homeowner lives on a different Pacific Palisades property that survived the fire, so he was unhurt in the collapse. He said he was initially relieved to hear his Castellammare Drive home didn’t burn, but that relief soon dissipated due to the sliding.