KGO-TV(FAIRFAX, Calif.) — Heavy rains that have been pummeling the Bay Area in California recently caused a landslide that temporarily trapped two young girls and their grandparents in a hillside home.
Jenie Chang told ABC News Wednesday that she had just pulled up to her parents’ house in Fairfax, California, on Tuesday evening to pick up her two girls, ages 10 and 4, when she realized a “massive fallen tree” was blocking the way up to the house.
“It was surreal,” Chang said. “I had to use my high beams to make sure I was really seeing what I was seeing.”
The massive tree had “completely crushed the detached garage” next to home, Chang said, adding that it — along with other smaller trees and shrubs — “completely covered” the 64 stairs leading up to home’s main entrance.
Chang said she immediately called her parents inside, who told her they were all safe but had been unaware of the mess just outside their door. Chang’s parents then called for help, and within minutes, a unit from the Marin County Fire Department was on the scene, she said.
Firefighters used chainsaws to cut through several fallen trees, and they created a makeshift path up the muddy hill to the house’s front door, according to Battalion Chief Bret McTigue, public information officer for the Marin County Fire Department.
Firefighters then escorted the girls and their grandparents one by one down the path to safety, McTigue told ABC News Wednesday. He added that all four family members were OK and that no one suffered any injuries.
Chang said her two young girls were good-spirited about the whole ordeal and saw the experience as “a great adventure.”
The full extent of the damage to Chang’s parents’ home is not yet known, McTigue said, adding that building inspectors were still working to assess the property this morning.
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