OAKLAND, CA (KCBS) -- Public works crews have closed a stretch of Alvarado Road where several homes were evacuated earlier this week after flooding and slides.
The city determined that four homes on Alvarado near Claremont were not safe for habitation and yellow-tagged the houses.
As a precaution, Oakland's Public Works Director, Raul Godinez, decided to close the road in front of those homes on Saturday evening, making a major road through the Oakland hills impassable.
“This is how I come in and out,” said Abby Conover, who took advantage of a break in the rain to walk her big dog Trickster.
Four times this week, crews have cleared mud and debris from the road, and the rain continues to send parts of the hill-sometimes just pebbles, other times larger rocks-tumbling down.
“Given the fact that we're getting more rain, we thought that it was prudent to go ahead and close the road,” Godinez said.
Two doors down from the closure, Carol Kerbel was keeping one eye on her neighbor's house, which could remain empty for weeks or months, while she also studied the trees behind her own home.
“If you see the trees starting to not be upright anymore, but tilt down, you know that there's movement underneath,” she told KCBS reporter Tim Ryan.
Engineers plan to monitor the land movement of the hills off Alvarado Road for the next several days.
The evacuation could last for months.
The city determined that four homes on Alvarado near Claremont were not safe for habitation and yellow-tagged the houses.
As a precaution, Oakland's Public Works Director, Raul Godinez, decided to close the road in front of those homes on Saturday evening, making a major road through the Oakland hills impassable.
“This is how I come in and out,” said Abby Conover, who took advantage of a break in the rain to walk her big dog Trickster.
Four times this week, crews have cleared mud and debris from the road, and the rain continues to send parts of the hill-sometimes just pebbles, other times larger rocks-tumbling down.
“Given the fact that we're getting more rain, we thought that it was prudent to go ahead and close the road,” Godinez said.
Two doors down from the closure, Carol Kerbel was keeping one eye on her neighbor's house, which could remain empty for weeks or months, while she also studied the trees behind her own home.
“If you see the trees starting to not be upright anymore, but tilt down, you know that there's movement underneath,” she told KCBS reporter Tim Ryan.
Engineers plan to monitor the land movement of the hills off Alvarado Road for the next several days.
The evacuation could last for months.
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