A state of emergency

Officials at Sierra Madre City Hall declared a state of emergency and planned to seek state and federal assistance to cope with mudslides flowing through neighborhoods that had been assaulted by wildfires less than a month ago.
"At this point the mud has not flowed into people's homes," said Sierra Madre City Manager Elaine Aguilar, who added voluntary evacuations had been declared for residents along Woodland and Skyland drives.
But many ignored the evacuation requests and chose to stay and weather the torrential rains that fell on the area Thursday and Friday, hoping that the runoff from the denuded hillsides would be contained to the streets.
John Stillman said at one point Thursday the mud had reached up to the hood of his white Honda Accord in front of his Skyland Drive home. Down the street, a neighbor's pool was flooded with the brown, sticky stuff.
"I hardly got it out," said Stillman of his car. He chose to stay put as city crews worked until early Friday using a skip-loader to clear the mud flows in front of his home.