LAKEPORT, Calif. – Following the Board of Supervisors’ declaration last month of a local emergency in response to a landslide that has destroyed several homes at the Lakeside Heights subdivision, residents of the hilltop cluster of homes are petitioning the state for an emergency declaration.
Citing the Board of Supervisors’ April 16 emergency action, last Friday residents of the north Lakeport subdivision sent a petition asking for a state emergency declaration to state Assemblymember Mariko Yamada and state Sen. Noreen Evans, according to homeowner Randall Fitzgerald.
Yamada’s office reported to Fitzgerald that the petition subsequently was forwarded to Gov. Jerry Brown’s office.
The 29-home subdivision, located off of Hill Road across from Sutter Lakeside Hospital, has been the site of a devastating landslide, which since late March has destroyed several homes, as Lake County News has reported.
The county reported that, so far, seven homes have been red-tagged, requiring mandatory evacuations, and six other families were given voluntary evacuation notices.
In addition, county sewer and water infrastructure has been damaged, and the landslide is threatening Hill Road. County officials said they have created emergency ingress and egress plans should the landslide block the roads.
Fitzgerald said the earth is continuing to move and residents’ insurance companies are refusing to cover the damaged homes, claiming it is a subsidence issue of undetermined cause.
Lake County News contacted the Governor’s Office on Monday to inquire where the consideration of the emergency declaration is currently.
Kelly Huston of the California Emergency Management Agency responded to the inquiry.
“We are still evaluating the request and working with the county and other agencies to determine the extent of damage possible remedies, etc.,” Huston said in an email message. “So at this point no final determination has been made.”
Huston said the agency’s regional staff “has been working hard to get a handle on this problem.”
In the meantime, Fitzgerald also used Facebook to ask for community support for the emergency disaster declaration.
He asked that people contact the Governor’s Office by filling out a contact form at http://govnews.ca.gov/gov39mail/mail.php ; scroll down and hit “general” as the subject.
Email Elizabeth Larson at elarson@lakeconews.com . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
