A mudslide in Silverado Canyon covered more than a half-mile of road with several feet of mud, on Wednesday, March 10, according to Shannon Widor, Strategic Communications Officer, Orange County Public Works.

In an interview with Irvine Weekly, Widor explained that despite anticipated mudslide preparation from OC Public Works and the Orange County Fire Authority, the amount of mud flow that came after Wednesday’s expected rainfall was significant in terms of size.

“Since the fires, I know there’s been two or three rain events, where we saw minor mudflows. It was a smaller geographic area that was hit today,” Widor explained on a phone call with Irvine Weekly. “Today was much worse – I’m looking at the road now, it’s probably half a mile, covered in a couple feet of mud – probably a couple feet deep.”

In terms of the regionality, Widor said the mudflow was east of the Silverado Canyon Post Office, but considering Silverado Canyon is a one-way road, it became inaccessible to the residents that live in the area. Adding to the challenge, Widor said that the Silverado mudslide covered cars – making it even more difficult for residents to leave.

“Basically, they were trapped – they couldn’t leave because the road was impassable.”

In fact, OC Fire Authority helped assist four Silverado Canyon Road residents who became trapped in their home after the mudslide.

Widor, who has worked with OC Public Works for six years, said a good amount of rain brought mud and debris from the burned hillsides of Silverado Canyon near the areas that were burned during the Bond and Silverado Fire, which crews spent a good portion of Wednesday morning cleaning up.

There were no reported injuries, but Widor said that OCFA was continuing to sweep the area with accountability checks for residents in the Silverado Canyon Road neighborhood.

As of 11:52 a.m. on Wednesday, March 10, the OCFA had set up a temporary evacuation center at El Modena High School.

And as of 12:39 p.m. the mandatory evacuation order was still in place, per a tweet from the O.C. Sheriff Department.

In terms of precautions, Widor said the public should not underestimate the power and destruction that can be caused by large mud flows.

“These can be life-threatening conditions, if we get more rain and more mudflows. Based on weather forecasts, anticipated rain and what we’ve seen. These evacuation orders are put in place so we strongly advise residents to make a plan … people should take it very seriously,” he said. “These are very steep burnt hillsides, just feet from private residences.”

Residents are encouraged to contact the Emergency Operations Center hotline at (714) 628-7085.

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