Immediate Evacuations Ordered in “Unstable” Azusa Neighborhood

As of Friday night, two homes in nearby Glendora had been slightly damaged by mud flow.

Twenty six homes in Azusa were under mandatory evacuations as the second of two winter storms pummeled Southern California.

The Los Angeles County Fire Department and Azusa Police Department ordered all residents and media to evacuate Ridge View Drive about 4:30 p.m. Friday. Officials said the order was due to "unstable ground" as storms headed toward the neighborhood.

Anyone in the area was instructed to keep roadways clear for emergency personnel and to completely avoid the area.

"Anytime you have a mandatory evacuation, stress and anxiety does come into play. And so we understand that and we appreciate that. It’s not something we look forward to," Glendora City Manager Chris Jeffers said.

Some residents on Ridge View Drive, however, refused to leave.

"The worry is that the rocks and pebbles and stuff might come down like the Malibu Rock slide, but I don't think it'll come down. I think it'll just be a lot of debris and water," resident Daniel Poblet said.

Aerial video showed the backyard of a home flooded with muddy water.

An unidentified journalist was briefly stuck in the mud in Azusa Friday.

"He couldn't get out of the mud, got stuck. He had to have five people help him out," homeowner Dennis Sanderson said. Sanderson had also opted not to evacuated as of Friday night. "We’ll probably leave. But um, taking it hour by hour."

Earlier Friday afternoon, police and fire officials urged residents below the fire-scarred hillsides above Glendora and Azusa to prepare for mudslides that swept the area's streets.

A thousand homes in Glendora were under evacuation orders. As of Friday night, two homes in Glendora had been slightly damaged by mud flow, according to an NBC4 report.

Evacuations were also issued for the foothill community of Monrovia as a strong storm brought flooding concerns to the area. 

The storm also knocked out power to tens of thousands of people across Southern California.

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