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Shelley Osterloh ReportingEngineers have told 20 families in a South Weber neighborhood it's safe to move back in. Sunday night, a large mudslide forced them out and there have been concerns that the hill was unstable.
Geologists say the hill is stable. They've been pumping water out of a pond on top of the hill. Gradually today, families are trickling back to their homes, all but one anyway; the Keyes' home was hardest hit and is a total loss.
Debie Ogden, Resident: "There's no place like home; it's an old saying but it's always true."
Debie Ogden is moving back in to her six month old home. She and others are grateful things weren't worse.
The pictures from Chopper Five tell the story. Part of a hillside broke away sending an 80 foot wide mud slide down 500 feet into the Keyes' home. Their four-year old daughter got a broken leg and possible head injury from debris falling on her. Her uncle says she's traumatized but recovering.
Dirk Keyes: "As best we can tell, she was sitting in a chair against the back wall of the home and she ended up clear across the room and trapped underneath the debris against the railing of the far wall of the home."
While crews worked to pump excess water from the hill and pond, families gathered to hear the report from geologists and the news was good.
Kim Wallace, Davis County Engineer: "That hillside has been there for thousands of years, and once we get the water off the top of it, it'll be just as stable as it has been for the last thousand years."
Wallace says the slide was caused by a combination of a lot of water from a recent snowstorm and a retention pond with a gravel base that could not hold the water. The owners of the hill will have to come up with a plan in the next 30 days to make it safer. Residents seemed satisfied.
Richard Lowry, Resident: "It'll certainly be a concern. We've got to keep an eye on it, but one advantage after a disaster like this is that you've got all the agencies monitoring and watching."
Geologists seem confident that this hillside can be permanently stabilized and this will not happen again.
