Mudslides in California

Sad, they can't recover from one disaster before they get another, seems to be going on for a long time. :(
 

Horrible. After the Valley Fire two years ago,last winter`s heavy rains were very much a concern in the mountains where the fires had decimated millions of trees. Flash floods and mudslides were predicted,but never materialized,thank goodness. I don`t know why. It still takes my breath away to drive up there and see the devastation that that fire caused. Very few homes left and almost no trees.

On Monday I had a doctor appointment down in the Wine Country Fire area. My doctor`s office`s building actually had some damage and had to close for a couple of months. All around them are fire destroyed buildings and homes. They are on flat land,but right across the freeway are the hills where many,many very expensive homes were destroyed. They are very,very concrned about mudslids there as well,but after 24 hours straight of heavy rain on Monday,all is well so far.
 
Those in fire and mud slide areas simply can't win now. The current residents will not be California dreaming instead having nightmares. Nature does not fool around and will complete their cycles regardless of consequences.

Best of Luck to those still there.
 
We have purchased several homes since 1982-5 to be exact. They have all had one thing in common-no hill behind it,no retaining walls,no chance of mudslides. The reason is that in 1982,we had an especially wet winter in the San Francisco Bay Area. A hillside slid in a neighboring city and killed a couple`s three children while they slept. There were many more stories of mudslides that winter,but that was the worst. It became one of the first priorities for any future purchase. By the way,your Homeowner`s policy does not cover mudslides....
 
We have purchased several homes since 1982-5 to be exact. They have all had one thing in common-no hill behind it,no retaining walls,no chance of mudslides. The reason is that in 1982,we had an especially wet winter in the San Francisco Bay Area. A hillside slid in a neighboring city and killed a couple`s three children while they slept. There were many more stories of mudslides that winter,but that was the worst. It became one of the first priorities for any future purchase. By the way,your Homeowner`s policy does not cover mudslides....

You learned a lesson that many never bother with by remembering nature could ruin one's life. Most people only/tend to worry about price and proximity, not location. I've seen it with areas susceptible to flooding and/or hurricane damage. If you mention details or criteria like that you are frequently considered a worry wart or paranoid simply for thinking about a potential hazard.

I also heard home owners coverage in Calfornia is getting tough in many counties/zip codes because of the fires and slides.

I'm at the point now I consider how the utilities come into the house, the age and size of trees in the area and things like a lot of dips or sinkholes in the ground, cracking concrete inside and out etc. And I actually want to see a home in bad or extreme weather-as much as the realtor will allow for water leaks.

Sidenote but live near a major highway with several new home owners in the area. They were completely caught off guard by the amount of traffic, school buses and/or public transportation that travels or stops in front of their house-hello. But like many people they only look at homes on the weekend or nights after rush hour.
 
What devastation and so many lives lost already and people missing. This country has had more than its share of natural disasters in recent years especially....and California seems to be the hardest hit. :( Thoughts with all those affected, I can't even imagine living through something like this.
 
What devastation and so many lives lost already and people missing. This country has had more than its share of natural disasters in recent years especially....and California seems to be the hardest hit. :( Thoughts with all those affected, I can't even imagine living through something like this.

I think people forget or disregard what nature can and will do. If someone knows someone who lived in a disaster area for years without incident they assume they can live there too without incident. People find out the hardway in places like Florida and California that it isn't all sun, fun and scenery.
 
Can't imagine where you would find an insurance company to write a homeowner's policy.

We will be facing that soon. When we sold our last house in 2012,we decided to rent for a while as we couldn`t find exactly what we wanted. Ironically,this rental is exactly what we were looking for,and now the owners want to sell it to us. But I am very unsure about being able to get homeowner`s insurance. We do live in a very high fire danger area. (Haha-stayed away from mudslide risk properties but there hadn`t been a wildfire here to my knowledge in forever. Now we have had several in the past couple of years) Anyway,if we can`t get insurance,we won`t be buying,needless to say. I am going to try our renter`s insurance company and see if they would consider writing it.
 
I have AAA, with combined Auto and Homeowners coverage.

I can't think of any natural disasters that could possibly occur in the High Mojave Desert where I live.

We are a large rocky, sandy desert area with low mountains and no forest growth anywhere. You couldn't start a continuous fire if you ran around with a flamethrower, because the only combustibles are sparsely scattered sagebrush and tumbleweeds.

Our local Mojave river runs underground, we have large dry lakes, we haven't had snow in 6 years and we are an area of extremely sparse rainfall. When we do have snow, it all melts away in 1 or 2 days.

All we have is wind in various strengths.

HiDesertHal
 
Some insurance companies will sell coverage for almost any peril by a special endorsement to the basic policy for $$$$ . If mudslides are considered flood with I think they may be, you can buy flood insurance from the federal government- often via your own insurance company which administers the flood policy for the government.
 
Fire, flood and mud are what we live with in CA. Trust me, nobody spends a few years here and "forgets" that it's not all sunshine and ocean breezes, LOL. You learn quickly that the reason why the coastal areas are so expensive is that they are (1) hard to build on - CA is mostly shale and sand at the shore, not granite; (2) erosion is constant - you may buy it today but 100 yrs don't be surprised if your heirs find their 1/2 acre site whittled down to one-third that size by ocean currents.

This photo was out of the NY Times archives. It is NOT Montecito, it is a photo of La Conchita, a coastal community just south of Montecito about 17 miles. In 1995 they had a massive mudslide that buried a dozen houses. They erected a massively reinforced wall to the highest standards they could.

In 2005 another mudslide came down. It deflected over the wall and kept coming down. Per the NY Times: "...Ten people were killed in that January 2005 mudslide. Their bodies were recovered but parts of their homes are still buried under a giant mound of soil, a monument to the town’s suffering and lingering fears."

This is the photo of that 2005 mudslide. As you can see, it's density that's the problem. The town only has 330 residents. But it doesn't take much width in these modern days, to wipe out a dozen homes or more.
mudslide.jpg

The reason flooding after fire is always a concern is that really intense fires can "fuse" the soil surface. It can take up to two years for the soil to recover its natural absorption. On flatlands this is less of a problem - but CA's coast is very craggy and full of chasms.

If you've ever driven from the Washington/Oregon coast down into CA's northern coast, you'll have noticed this. It's not just a change in plant life - the coastal geography becomes noticeably different. "Walking beaches" like Moonstone Beach in Cambria are not the norm here.
 
None of us can escape nature. When I hear someone say, "why are they living in a (fill in the blank) area???" I can't help but roll my eyes. We live in the hurricane zone and have been through several major storms in our lives. But where are ya gonna go that there won't be some kind of natural disaster? Tornados, earthquakes, blizzards... heck, even volcanic eruptions in some areas. At least we get advance warning for hurricanes!! :D

Anyway, I hope the best for those affected by the fires and mudslides. We are still recovering from Harvey in the Houston area and all along the Texas coast.
 
This is mind boggling and so heartbreaking. The fires were bad enough...now this. I saw on the news that one young man was holding out hope while searching for his mother. The next day, his worst fears were confirmed when they found her body. I pray for the victims and their families. Yet more people now homeless in this country!
 


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