Oakland hills landslide cuts water service

A landslide in the Oakland hills has left 23 homes without water service, a spokeswoman for the East Bay Municipal Utility District said today.

Water agency spokeswoman Nelsy Rodriguez said the landslide occurred early Thursday evening, several hours after a customer on Aitken Drive, east of state Highway 13, called EDMUD at about 4 p.m. to report a problem with a water service line.

An EMBUD inspector shut off the water main in the area because he noticed that the ground was moving and it was becoming a landslide, Rodriguez said.

At about 8:15 p.m. on Thursday a large section of Aitken Drive collapsed onto Banning Drive, which runs below Aitken, according to Rodriguez.

The Oakland Fire Department and Oakland police responded to the scene and evacuated about six homes in the area, Rodriguez said.

City of Oakland officials weren’t immediately available for comment today on the status of those homes.

Rodriguez said most of the 23 homes without water service are on Aitken Drive but several of them are on nearby Exeter Drive.

She said the high point of the water service line section that is leaking is 6619 Aitken Drive and EBMUD is trying to reduce the area that has to have its water turned off.

Rodriguez said the water agency hopes that most of the 23 homes that currently don’t have water service will have their service restored by this evening.

She said the water service line that’s leaking is small and it’s not yet clear if the landslide was triggered by the water line problem or by the heavy rain in the storm Thursday evening.