That gaping slash in the hillside across from the Mountain Street entrance to campus is not a local artist’s impression of the Grand Canyon. It is the work of mother nature. The recent torrential rains caused a river of mud, rocks and debris to cascade down the hillside on the morning of Jan. 10. Mountain Street between Verdugo Road and the Glendale (2) Freeway and portions of Verdugo Road near campus were blocked, hemming in cars parked in the lot off Mountain Street.
Because the mud flow and street closures made it impossible to drive to campus or enter the parking lots, the college was closed from the afternoon of Jan. 10 to the morning of Jan. 12.
“Fortunately we had little damage,” said Public Information Office Wendy Grove. The worst damage was that “the fence around the athletic coaches’ parking lot was knocked down when the mud filled that lot,” Grove said. Glendale city crews worked around the clock to remove the rubble. However, this mudslide was just a small part of the damage around town. “Citywide Glendale had $27 million in damages,” said Shea Eccleston, an administrative analyst with the city’s Public Works Department.