UPDATE: Moraga Ave. in Piedmont Reopens After Landslide, Power Outage

UPDATED: Friday, April 18, 8:44 p.m.

Piedmont city officials say they reopened Moraga Avenue around 7:45 p.m. tonight after a closure caused by a small landslide that knocked several trees into a power line.

The landslide from a private property on to Moraga Avenue and the resulting power line problems near Maxwelton Road forced the closure of a half-mile stretch of Moraga around 11 a.m. today, according to City Clerk John Tulloch.

The city worked with PG&E and a tree contractor to clear the lines and restore power, and city and contractor crews removed loose soil from the hillside and cleared the roadway, Tulloch said.

PG&E spokeswoman Tamar Sarkissian said the fallen trees caused a power outage in the area that started at 11:14 a.m. and affected 482 customers at its peak. No one was injured by the landslide and no houses were threatened, according to Piedmont police.

A police spokesman said the mudslide was "a much smaller situation" than a mudslide in the same general area two years ago, in April 2012, than forced Moraga Avenue to be closed for 35 hours.

Although it's in the same area, the mudslide today occurred on a different property than the mudslide two years ago, Tulloch said.

The city will work with the property owner to stabilize the hillside, Tulloch said. Tulloch said the landslide was not caused by water or sewer lines in the area.

If the property owner is found to be responsible, the city will seek to recover the costs of the cleanup.
 
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Friday, April 18, 3 p.m.

A major street in Piedmont has been closed indefinitely because a mudslide brought a tree down onto a power line and caused it to smolder, officials said.

The smoldering power line on busy Moraga Avenue at Maxwelton Road was reported shortly after 11 a.m. and the Piedmont Fire Department was called to the scene, according to Piedmont police.

The East Bay Municipal Utility District responded to reports of a mudslide in the area but found that it was not related to water or sewer lines and could be connected to private irrigation, East Bay MUD officials said.

Fire officials contacted PG&E crews to fix the smoldering power line, according to police. No one has been injured and no houses are threatened, police said.

A police spokesman said it's not known when the problem will be fixed and Moraga Avenue will be reopened.

PG&E officials weren't immediately available for comment.

Moraga Avenue is a major thoroughfare because it connects downtown Piedmont with state Highway 13 and Oakland's Montclair district.

-- Bay City News