COLFAX, Calif. — A homeowner was left in shock after a massive mudslide rushed into his home and destroyed everything in its way.
Engineers say it's still too early to tell what exactly caused the mudslide, but they say the rain was definitely a factor. They've been in Colfax all morning as a shaken homeowner tries to figure out what's next.
"All the mud was rushing into my living room, breaking through the windows, and pretty much sounded like a train they said," said Tony Waite, homeowner.
Tuesday night, Waite said he received a call he never thought he'd take. His cousin and mother told him a mudslide had made its way into his home on Ben Taylor Road.
"My mom would have normally been in the bedroom, which was totally collapsed and crushed by the mud, so my mom could be dead," said Waite.
Crews said the mudslide started at the top of a hill, came down, and slammed into the home.
"I mean it's catastrophic, a huge, huge force. I mean, the damage to the house -- all of this came down, it looks like, in an instant. I mean there's debris on the roof, just a huge catastrophic force," said Matt Randall, engineering manager with Placer County .
A group of engineers and geologists are assessing the damage and trying to determine exactly what caused it.
The priority is to clean up the road and make sure the area is stable. Randall calls it a complicated situation.
"Concern is that it'll keep moving. That's one of the things we're trying to find out with the weather forecast and more rain coming. We want to make sure, I mean obviously, the main thing is just safety for the public," he said.
Officials have red-tagged the home and, at this point, it is deemed unsafe. But since Waite didn't have mudslide insurance and is estimating about $150,000 worth of damage, he plans to start repairs himself.
"I don't know how the county people feel or whatever, but they can't make me leave and I'm not going to," he said. "I'm digging out starting right now."
A GoFundMe for the family is available HERE.
Photos: Mudslide in Colfax
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