Landslide Displaces Over a Dozen Residents in North Bay Apartment Complex

The rain returned to the Bay Area Friday and so did the problems.

In the North Bay, a landslide forced more than a dozen residents from their homes and there’s worry that there may be more sliding hills in the days ahead.

The landslide happened near Fairfax and neighbors said it happened fast. A loud noise and then mud moving down the hill. 

With more storms on the way, they grabbed what they could and got out as fast as they could.

“I was in my bedroom and I heard a crack which I thought was thunder and when I looked out, saw the mud flow,” said Marc Fleischer.

He was at home on Olema Road Friday morning when a landslide sent mud pushing into the back of his apartment complex.

His unit was not damaged, but it’s close enough that he’s leaving. He said there is real concern about how quickly things could get worse.

"With the heavy rains coming this weekend, that the building behind me may move off its foundation and hit us," said Fleischer. "My wife is disabled I got to get my car up there so we can get out."

Another resident said she was home when it happened.

“Our home, the back end on the second floor and the bottom floor is caved in by the landslide and the trees. I didn’t realize, I thought it was just a little tree so I told my nieces ‘hold on I will be right there.’ Apparently it’s huge so I'm a little nervous right now,” she said.

The slide only affected one building, but a total of three duplexes were evacuated over concerns that more of the hill could slide.   

“I was woken up by a loud knock. It was the fire department saying the whole hill was coming down and I looked outside there was mud all over the backyard and that I needed to evacuate, needed to go right now,” said another resident.

Firefighters tried to stabilize the slide and manage the water running into the slide area in hopes of preventing any additional sliding.

“With the series of storms that are impacting the Bay Area, we are seeing a lot of land movement our fear is this is kind of the first of many to come and we want to make sure in this situation here that none of the neighboring structures are going to be affected if we do have additional movement. That’s why we’re going to be evacuating even some of the structures that are not being directly impacted by the flow,” said Graham Groneman, battalion chief of the Marin County Fire Department.

A total of 19 people, and their pets, were displaced.