Landslides which closed Ventura County highway have some nearby residents worried about their homes

KCLU | By Lance Orozco

Published March 28, 2024 at 10:18 AM PDT

A massive landslide has literally turned Highway 150 into a dead end road north of Santa Paula, and there are no bypass roads. Motorists have to use Highway 101 and Highway 33 to get to Ojai, adding about an hour to the trip.

Massive slide in February shut down Highway 150 between Santa Paula and Ojai. There was a second slide this week, and now a major storm is approaching.

It’s like a monster on a Ventura County mountainside, one that Ron Ysais sees every time he looks out his front door. It’s the massive landslide that closed Highway 150 between Santa Paula and Ojai.

It’s a beautiful, rural area, with the state highway winding its way through the mountains. If you walk a few hundred feet north from the home, you see a mountain of dirt and plants the size of the house. It’s as if 150 dead-ended.

"It looked a lot like lava," said Ysais, as he talked about the February slide. "It was moving at a slow pace, but just like you're not going to stop me. The K-rails were tossed like toys, the telephone poles were snapped like twigs, it was like how are you going to stop me...you can't."

So far, the February 19^th slide north of Santa Paula, near Stonegate Road hasn’t caused serious damage to homes. The highway is closed indefinitely. After a secondary slide this Monday, residents like Ysais are worried.

"Terrified...terrified. You see it. It's right there," said Ysais. "Where is the trajectory on this? The geologist said you're just barely on the edge of it, but he's not 100%."

Ron Ysais looks at the huge double slide area near his home off of Highway 150 north of Santa Paula.

Ysasis was talking to a Caltrans geologist Monday when the secondary slide started. It didn't cause any damage, but it prompted Ventura County to issue evacuation warnings to three nearby homes.

Ysasis says he and his partner Kevin have lived in their home on the east side of Highway 150 for more than two decades. All that separates their home from the mountainside is the two lane state highway. There’s about a dozen homes just south of the slide area. Ysasis said the entire hillside burned during the 2017 Thomas Fire, so they know what to do if they have to evacuate.

The highway’s shutdown has forced drivers headed between Santa Paula and Ojai to take a nearly hour long detour, looping around on Highway 101.

"It makes it a little bit more difficult. You have to take Highway 101 and Highway 33 to get to Ojai," said Mauricio Jiminez, who works for an agricultural company. He uses the 150 regularly to reach farms in the area:

So how long will it take to clear Highway 150? No one knows. Initial efforts to clear it had to be stopped because moving earth brought down more soil from the mountainside. And, with a big storm coming this weekend, residents like Ysais worry rain could trigger more problems.