SANTA CRUZ >> In a harrowing development echoing the January 1982 tragedy that killed 10, a massive swath of saturated mountainside above Love Creek Road gave way at 4:45 p.m. Monday, destroying Love Creek Falls and sending residents scrambling.

“We were clearing the trees from an earlier slide on the road when it gave. We were running from the trees as they came down,” said Love Creek Road resident Frank Dennis, who has lived in the area for 40 years.

The landslide transformed the picturesque Love Creek Falls, located about a mile up Love Creek Road from Ben Lomond, into a treacherous and shifty morass of mud, rock and wood. Trees from the landslides fell across the road, downing wires.

“The falls are destroyed,” said Dennis. “They’re gone.”

At 5:30 p.m., residents worked to clear the road to allow a few cars to escape into Ben Lomond. As they cut the thick trunks into pieces, they kept their eyes peeled on 100-foot, precariously angled trees overhead and turned to warily watch the unstable earth at their backs. Occasionally wood would crack or car-sized chunks of mountainside would slurp and crash into the creek.

“This is so bad,” said a resident who asked to remain unidentified. “Those trees looked like toothpicks coming down. That one’s ready to go. All of this could go at any moment.”

“The whole mountainside is saturated. It’s like when you put butter in the microwave. It just slumped off. The rest is going to liquefy. We’re going to lose this whole section,” Dennis said. “Eventually we’re going to lose the road.”

Dennis said he knew something was amiss Monday morning when he stopped by Love Creek Falls and noticed three times the amount of water was pouring down it.

“Then about five feet to the right, a huge hole broke out,” said Dennis. “At that point it was pretty clear something big had happened further up the slope.”

At approximately 10:30 a.m., a preliminary slide downed trees across the wires. Over the course of the day, ever larger chunks of the mountain began to shift.

Then at 4:45 p.m., the major landslide occurred, sending Dennis and a few other residents who had been trying to clear the initial trees with chainsaws scurrying for their lives.

The large slide is eerily reminiscent of a tragedy that has haunted Santa Cruz Mountains residents for 35 years. On Jan. 5, 1982, a quarter-mile swath of hillside gave way in the early morning hours, destroying 25 homes in the Love Creek Heights community. Ten people were killed. The youngest victims were never found.

“That whole area up there that slid today is where some of those houses were perched,” said Dennis. “This slide isn’t just near the 1982 site. It’s in it.”

The new slide at Love Creek Falls is just another on a long list of storm-related hazards and closed roads in the Santa Cruz Mountains and beyond.

Outside of Boulder Creek, a large slide had closed Hopkins Gulch Road late Saturday night, trapping roughly 50 residents.

On Sunday morning, John Jackson rallied neighbors Greg McLain and Bill Bibby. Together, the three men cleared tons of mud and debris for two days, effectively opening the road to traffic by Monday afternoon.

“It’s hard too tell how much earth we’ve moved,” said Jackson said. “Go look at where the slide came down you get an idea — a lot.”

“I’m having a good old time,” said Bibby. “I love playing in the mud.”

As hard pellets of hail fell and thunder boomed overhead Monday afternoon, Mike and Rainne Belanger navigated the muddy, but passable road for the first time since Saturday in their SUV.

“Send propane,” said Rainne Belanger. “We need it.”

In addition, Lompico Road between Lake Boulevard and Carroll may be down for as long as week due to a slide.

On Monday, the Public Works announced the closing of Valencia Road between Trout Gulch Road and Aptos School Road for at least two weeks due to an unstable culvert and uncertain road conditions.

Nelson Road in Scotts Valley also remains closed due to a failed culvert and resulting sinkhole. That incident was not the result of a county employee as reported Sunday. The backhoe operator who upended the culvert was a private citizen.

Other areas of note are a slip out on Amesti Road near Browns Valley Road, trees and wires down on Redwood Lodge Road; and multiple hazards on Hazel Dell Road.

However, although an unstable air mass delivered showers, rain — even thunder and hail — to the the county, the region will finally get a chance to dry out, regroup and fix the damage.

After some rain Tuesday morning, the National Weather Service forecasts mostly sunny skies peppered with chance showers throughout the week, giving way to a sunny weekend.