Silverado Canyon Mudslide Kills Girl

A 16-year-old Orange County girl was killed when rocks and mud hit two buildings in Silverado Canyon and a worker attempting to repair a massive sinkhole in Sun Valley was missing Sunday, authorities said.

Caitlin Oto was working on the computer in her bedroom in an apartment above the Shadybrook Country Store when boulders and rocks crashed through the roof and walls. She died at the scene, Orange County coroner’s officials said. Her mother and stepfather were not harmed, officials said.

“She was a smart, pretty, sweet girl,” said neighbor Christine Stoughton whose house was also damaged by debris.

Her husband, Sam, said he was dozing in a chair in his living room when “when the rock just came through the east side.”

“It was an unimaginable crash,” said Sam Stoughton, who watched as falling rocks tore out his kitchen wall and destroyed the kitchen table.

A warning siren at the volunteer fire station just yards away did not sound. Neighbors said the rush of mud, rock and trees was deafening as the steep canyon wall collapsed.

Late Sunday, dozens of stunned residents gathered near the winding road, which runs along Silverado Creek, one of many in the area swollen by heavy rains.

The area has been the site of other disasters.

In 1969, the fire station next door to the building where Caitlin was killed was hit by a flash flood that killed five canyon evacuees who had sought shelter there.

Late Sunday as skies cleared, half of the store’s roof appeared to have caved in under debris. Longtime residents said the store had been hit by falling rocks and mud at least three times in the last decade or so.

The Stoughton home next door was destroyed in slide four years ago. “We rebuilt and we’re proud of our house and we’re staying,” Christine Stoughton said Sunday.

Caitlin was junior El Modena High School in Orange, friends said.

“She was always smiling, really smiling and laughing,” said Justine Wyngaarden, 14, who lives across the street.

Caitlin’s mother and stepfather owned the country store for more than five years, a community gathering spot where horses often waited outside for their riders.

Caitlin’s stepfather, Steve Carter, ran out to the street to call for help after he could not find her. Caitlin was found upstairs crushed by a boulder.

Steve Kerrigan, a volunteer firefighter who lives nearby, was one of the first in the house. “However long she is, that’s how long the rock is,” Kerrigan said.

Officials evacuated the two structures damaged in the 9 p.m. slide but other residents were not advised to leave.

The repair worker at the Sun Valley sinkhole was reported missing shortly after 10:30 p.m., Los Angeles Fire Department officials said. The worker’s identity was not immediately clear, they said. City employees and private contractors were working at the site at the time. Helicopters and rescue workers were at the scene attempting to find the person.

City work crews had been pouring cement into the 40-foot crater in the middle of Tujunga Avenue closing the street and threatening nearby power lines.

Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn, who visited the site Sunday evening before the worker went missing, said crews were also working on mudslides in Eagle Rock, Toluca Lake, Studio City and Hollywood.

“Mother Nature is flooding our streets and saturating our hillsides, but city crews are working around the clock to minimize any hazards or inconveniences,” Hahn said.

Downed power lines and felled tree branches darkened cut power to about 1,500 homes customers around throughout the city, said a Department of Water and Power spokeswoman.

In Sun Valley, city crews poured cement into a sinkhole that opened Sunday in the middle of Tujunga Avenue, closing the street and threatening power lines.

The 40-foot crater broke a sewer pipe, which opens into an adjacent gravel pit. Officials said the pipe was repaired but it could take six weeks to fix the 100-foot-wide hole.

Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn, who visited the site Sunday said city crews were also working on mudslides in Eagle Rock, Toluca Lake, Studio City and Hollywood.

“Mother Nature is flooding our streets and saturating our hillsides, but city crews are working around the clock to minimize any hazards or inconveniences,” Hahn said.

One to 3 inches of rain could fall along the coast and valleys through Tuesday, with 3 to 6 inches drenching the foothills and mountains, National Weather Service officials said Sunday.

The CHP closed nearly 3 miles of Pacific Coast Highway -- between Warner and Seapoint avenues in Huntington Beach -- at 6 p.m. Dispatchers were unsure if it would reopen this morning.