In Marin County, crews are racing to protect natural gas lines and a major traffic artery as a nearby mudslide continues to move. Various agencies are working and keeping an eye on the mudslide in anticipation of more rain arriving early this upcoming week.
Caltrans closed Southbound 101 at 9:00 p.m. Saturday night from Lakeville Highway in Petaluma to Atherton Road in Novato as PG&E crews work to reroute natural gas lines. That stretch of roadway is scheduled to reopen at 9:00 a.m. Sunday.
According to Marin County, the mudslide began Tuesday night in unincorporated Marin County on a slope above Redwood Boulevard.
Since then, major erosion on the hillside has continued.
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"We’ve got a hillside here that’s still moving, even under these sunny and dry conditions, the hill is still moving," explained Gerald McCarthy, Interim Deputy Fire Chief for the Novato Fire Protection District, at a press conference Saturday.
PG&E said that erosion on that slope has exposed one of its two gas lines in that area. The utility says those lines provide natural gas to 95,000 people in Marin County.
"Over the last couple of days, we’ve been monitoring land movement, and it’s consistently moved off the mountain, toward the frontage road," said Richard Yamaguchi, PG&E Senior Director for Gas Distribution Operations in the region.
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At a press conference Saturday, Yamaguchi explained that while no gas service has been impacted by this mudslide, PG&E decided to temporarily reroute these gas lines as a precaution. Yamaguchi said the utility began working on those efforts Friday afternoon and is aiming to have the work completed by Monday evening.
He said the goal is to move the natural gas lines away from the mudslide. Yamaguchi added that this is a temporary bypass while a longer-term solution gets worked out by engineers.
"Think of it as a detour, right?" Yamaguchi said.
He added that when PG&E finishes this work on the natural gas lines, other agencies will likely come in to protect their services in the area as well.
The mudslide is also happening next to a North Marin Water District main, which officials are keeping an eye on as well. According to a message from a Marin County spokesperson, the North Marin Water District says the district is still meeting all water demands and doesn't have any indication that their pipeline near the slide has been damaged.
At this point, no water or gas service has been disrupted. But people living nearby also told NBC Bay Area they're worried about another service: access to roads.
Miranda Pabst of Novato said she wonders if the mudslide could make traffic even worse for commuters along 101.
"I think that’s probably the biggest problem they’re going to have is just the traffic that’s gonna back up," Pabst said.
“I think they did a good job with trying to move quickly on it, especially because I guess it’s supposed to be raining this coming week," Pabst said, "I just don’t know how much headway they’ll make with the fact that it's supposed to be raining."
McCarthy with the Novato Fire Protection District said his team will be watching this mudslide closely to see if it moves towards 101 during the commute Monday and Tuesday.
"We do anticipate that even under the dry conditions, the hill is moving -- the landslide is moving --and further anticipate that with the wet weather returning that more land movement is very possible and expected," McCarthy said.
