City officials said Tuesday that heavy rains were to blame for a small mudslide that forced the brief evacuation of two houses in the La Jolla area.
Inspectors found no water main ruptures near the site of Monday night's mudslide, and storm drains were clear, according to a statement from Bill Harris, a spokesman for the mayor's office.
About 1,000 cubic feet of soil flowed into a canyon from a Mount Soledad hillside behind one of the homes at about 7:20 p.m. Monday, according to Maurice Luque, a spokesman for the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department. He said the mudflow shifted a couple of palm trees and destroyed about 30 feet of a retaining wall behind the home.
Residents were allowed to return after city engineers deemed the area safe.
Southern California was hit with heavy rains last week.
The mudslide was not related to a series of landslides caused by geologic shifts on the opposite side of Mount Soledad. A large collapse in October sent four houses slipping 15 feet downhill and left two more uninhabitable.
