Families evacuate homes during landslide

Two families have evacuated their homes in Moraga because of the landslide that is threatening to destroy their property, city and East Bay Municipal Utility District officials said Sunday.

The small slide on Augusta Drive near the Moraga Country Club has brought down the deck of at least one of the homes, even as utility crews had tarps on some of the ground below the homes to keep the rain from saturating the soil.

Moraga’s Acting Police Chief Jon King said the two families left on their own volition. There was no evacuation order.

“It’s difficult,” EBMUD spokeswoman Andrea Pook said of the families having to leave their homes. “It’s basically another natural disaster.”

Pook said crews were out to the homes on Sunday covering up additional areas where the soil had opened up. The soil is saturated and unstable, so nothing may be done until the soil dries out.

Pook said the soil is so unstable working on it may make the situation worse.

Utility officials will be hiring an engineer to determine what steps will need to be taken next to protect the public land below the homes.

The utility is not responsible for private property, Pook said.

But “it’s likely this will be some shared solution,” she said.