Life after Creekside Cabins has begun for former residents of the campground that was declared a public health menace on January 21st, weeks after a sinkhole in the driveway made it impossible to drive off the property. A temporary bridge allowed for a brief evacuation last week, but the majority of trailers, vehicles, and belongings were abandoned. The former residents who made it over the bridge are mostly in temporary living situations.
Danilla Sands, Director of United Disaster Relief of Northern California, gave an update Tuesday afternoon, after spending hours on the phone trying to get a tow for an SUV and a trailer belonging to a displaced family of eight. She did not succeed, and that night, she discovered the vehicle had been stolen.
Sands reported that a majority of the former residents have relocated to Mendocino Redwoods and RV, formerly KOA, in Willits. The county has paid for 30-day space rentals at the park, which is a temporary campground. “Mendocino RV folks have been really kind,” Sands noted. “But there are some that are still stranded on the side of the road. There are a couple that are still sleeping in their cars,” including one woman who couldn’t abandon her beloved pitbull. “There are some being put up in a hotel by Good Samaritans who live in Willits.” UDRNC has been able to put up four people in a hotel, through a grant.
“We are working with them, talking about chipping away every day on some type of plan for the next step,” Sands said. “If you want a rental, let's put in the rental applications. If you need assistance with getting your vehicle registered so you can legally be in a park long term, let’s work with our partners, North Coast Opportunities, to see if your vehicle can be registered. What are these next steps, so we’re not in the same chaos that we were in last week at the last minute.”
Twenty-five trailers and 21 personal vehicles were abandoned behind the sinkhole last week, among tons of other personal belongings. About 8-10 of the trailers were already abandoned, but Sands said that one belonged to a woman who had been in the hospital during the evacuation, so she had no opportunity to gather up her possessions during the brief window of time that the temporary bridge was available. “One gentleman could not get his pop-up back in,” Sands recalled, because the bridge was too narrow. The pop-up had been extended for the entire time he had been living onsite, “So to have hours to try to maneuver this pop-up to try to get it back in, it didn’t work unfortunately, for one of our families.” The bridge was in place from 8:00 am Wednesday, January 25, to 5:00 pm the next day, plus one hour early the following Friday morning. It was closed at night. One family with a child got stuck behind the sinkhole, because they didn’t know about the additional early-morning hour that was offered after residents protested the closure on Thursday night. The protest bought a few more hours at that time for people to flee, resulting in four more trailers making it over the bridge that night and Friday morning.
But Sands said the family “got stuck behind, because they didn’t realize that we advocated with other people to get them an extra hour Friday morning. So come 5:00 Thursday, the night before, they thought, well, that’s it. And then another lady’s staying back with dogs. They have nowhere to bring them.” Many rentals won’t take large dogs, for insurance reasons.
“As far as we know, it’s between the property owner and the state to decide on the next plans on that culvert being fixed,” Sands said. “We have not heard any indications of it getting fixed anytime soon.” The Board of Supervisors decided last week to direct County Counsel Christian Curtis to pursue litigation against Houser Holdings, LLC, which owns the Creekside Cabins property. Curtis said during open session that, due to salmon spawning season, he does not expect it to be possible to start construction for at least another six months.
“There is really no other way in and out of there, unless you had some large equipment, like a backhoe, to get through some backwoods, and get okayed through a property owner,” Sands described. “There’s really no proper way to get any other trailers out right now. So if they’re stuck, they’re stuck.”
Sands is always on the lookout for volunteers, even for one hour a week or once a month. She is grateful for donations, and said that a needs list for former Creekside Cabins residents is available at the UDRNC website. For example, “We have several people who need trailer propane heaters,” she said, noting that temperatures have been dropping below freezing at night in Willits. “These people need continued support,” she said. “And if not this disaster, we have several house fires throughout the year, and then we have fire season again coming up. People know that we need to save this disaster resource center. We’re boots on the ground, we’re right there in the beginning all the way through to the end of people’s recovery.”
