Eight homes evacuated as earth slides away in Newport
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NEWPORT, Ore. – A landslide just north of downtown Newport has caused the evacuation of eight homes.
Fire crews shut off power on Sunday and said Monday that more homes could be threatened.
The hill behind three homes at Longview Hills Mobile Home Park in Northeast Newport gave way, leaving a massive hole roughly 50 feet deep and a hundred feet wide. Two homes are dangling over the edge and a third is close to doing so if the hillside gives way any more.
Bette Owens, who lives a house away from the destruction, said she couldn’t believe nobody was hurt, “because they were all in their houses, and fortunately they weren’t, apparently, in the back of their rooms where it happened.”
The people who were in those homes said they didn’t hear the landslide and didn’t know their backyards had just slid away. One homeowner said it was raining hard at the time and she heard what sounded like her cat jumping off a piece of furniture and scurrying away. About five minutes later the manager of the park pounded on her door and told her to evacuate. It turned out the back end of her mobile home was dangling over the edge.
An effort will be made to save the three mobile homes that are directly in harms’ way. One of homeowners said that the park owners are going to drop large boulders off the hillside and other fill in an attempt to rebuild the hillside.
In the meantime, one homeowner is staying at a local motel with her dog and cat and said she has no idea what’s next.
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