Watch CBS News

Minor landslide happens outside singer Johnny Mathis' Hollywood Hills home

Minor landslide takes out hillside near singer Johnny Mathis' Hollywood Hills home
Minor landslide takes out hillside near singer Johnny Mathis' Hollywood Hills home 02:41

A minor landslide happened outside legendary singer Johnny Mathis' Hollywood Hills home.

It happened at about 3:30 p.m. in the 1400 block of Stebbins Terrace.

There are no reports of injuries at this time. 

The minor landslide closed off a stretch of Mulholland Drive as crews tried to stabilize the massive scar in the hillside and restore water and sewer lines after it tore open pipes and took utilities for the singer's home. 

"That hillside just got so saturated with rain and the wait of the rain and gravity brought it down," said neighbor Don LoBue. "When you live in the hills, you learn an awful lot about the hills."

Since New Year's Day California has seen 500 landslides throughout the state, after a series of strong winter storms saturated the land. 

"Once you've had a lot of rain and the sponge is full, then the next rainstorm that comes in, the bar is lower for triggering new landslides," said geologist David Montgomery. 

While the rain has stopped for the time being, experts warned that there is still potential for a dangerous mudslide, pointing to the nation's deadliest mudslide where 43 people were killed in Washington. The Oso, Washington mudslide in 2014 happened long after the rain had stopped. 

"It was the rain in the month before that ended up triggering it," said Montgomery. "The hazard doesn't go away when the rain stops."

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.