More than 50 people living in the San Gabriel Riverbed near Azusa and Irwindale were forced out Monday morning to make way for a massive, month-long riverbed cleanup.

As bulldozers bore down on them as early as 7 a.m., the homeless living in the riverbed carried trash bags and boxes of their belongings out of their encampments in the riverbed brush.

A dozer plows through homeless encampments along the San Gabriel River Trail to clear the area of brush for the fire season Monday, September 9, 2019. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Homeless persons bring their belongings the to bike trail along the San Gabriel River Trail, as the homeless were being ÒsweptÕ from the river bed for the county to clear the area of brush for the fire season Monday, September 9, 2019. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

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A cyclist passes by homeless persons with their belongings along the San Gabriel River Trail. The homeless were being ÒsweptÕ from the river bed for the county to clear the area of brush for the fire season Monday, September 9, 2019. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Social Services set up tables in the Lario trailhead along the San Gabriel River Trail as the area was swept for homeless to clear the area of brush for the fire season Monday, September 9, 2019. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Christopher Ojeda, right, speaks with a member of social services to see about getting help after he and other homeless were swept from encampments along the San Gabriel River Trail to clear the area of brush for the fire season Monday, September 9, 2019. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)



Homeless volunteers Sheila Williams, left, and Peggy Patrick serve up coffee, tea and pastries to the homeless at the Lario trailhead along the San Gabriel River Trail Monday, September 9, 2019. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Homeless persons bring their belongings the to bike trail along the San Gabriel River Trail, as the homeless were being ÒsweptÕ from the river bed for the county to clear the area of brush for the fire season Monday, September 9, 2019. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Homeless persons bring their belongings the to bike trail along the San Gabriel River Trail, as the homeless were being ÒsweptÕ from the river bed for the county to clear the area of brush for the fire season Monday, September 9, 2019. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

A dozer plows through homeless encampments along the San Gabriel River Trail to clear the area of brush for the fire season Monday, September 9, 2019. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Somatra Church, right, of Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority speaks with a homeless man living in the San Gabriel River as the area was being swept clear the area of brush for the fire season Monday, September 9, 2019. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)



Homeless persons bring their belongings the to bike trail along the San Gabriel River Trail, as the homeless were being ÒsweptÕ from the river bed for the county to clear the area of brush for the fire season Monday, September 9, 2019. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Homeless persons bring their belongings the to bike trail along the San Gabriel River Trail, as the homeless were being ÒsweptÕ from the river bed for the county to clear the area of brush for the fire season Monday, September 9, 2019. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Michael Estopellan carries out the flag from his camp in the San Gabriel River as he and other homeless were swept from the area to clear the river of brush for the fire season Monday, September 9, 2019. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Donnie Perea, who is living along the San Gabriel River Trail, gathered all of his belongings together as he and other homeless people were being swept from the river bed area for the county to clear the area of brush for the fire season Monday, September 9, 2019. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputies swept through the encampments to check for any stragglers and to look for important documents, medication, tents and anything else deemed necessary to live to be stored for the homeless to recover later before the bulldozers swept over the area, bringing down tarp-covered shanties along with the brush.

Donnie Perea, who has lived in the riverbed for a year and a half, said he only received word of the cleanup six days earlier and that he needed more time to get his belongings out.

“Ready or not — what do you do if you’re told you have six days to move all your belongings and you’ve got nowhere to go and no money,” Perea said. “If I had a bank account and car, it’d be easy.”

Perea said he was waiting for his son to get off of work at 3 p.m. to come pick up him and his belongings.

Michael Estopellan, 55, said he had been homeless for six years and living in the riverbed for one year. He said he understood the need for the cleanup because not everyone living in the area kept their camps clean but was sad no less because he and others had put hard work into making their camps livable.

“I’m 55, but I busted my (expletive) moving rocks and clearing space,” Estopellan said. “I tried to hide as far as I could from the public — out of sight, out of mind, but they still want us out of here.”

The goals of the cleanup were to clear the area of debris left by the homeless and to remove dry brush and vegetation that could pose a fire risk, Deputy Rodney Gutierrez of the Sheriff’s Homeless Outreach Services Team said.

However, enforcement in the area can be complicated because the land immediately surrounding the riverbed is owned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Meanwhile, a portion of that land is leased to the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation, and parts exist in the cities of Azusa and Irwindale, with Duarte just a few paces away.

Outreach workers for the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority estimated there were 89 people living in the riverbed a month ago when they first began warning the homeless there about the upcoming cleanup, but volunteers who feed the homeless in the park and offer showers in the park say the number was more than 250.

Nine different county departments and homeless service providers — LAHSA, the county departments of Animal Care and Control, Public Works, Parks and Recreation, Social Services, Mental Health, Public Health as well as Union Station Homeless Services and Volunteers of America — were on hand in Lario Park, which is adjacent to the riverbed bike trail, to offer resources to riverbed residents.

However, with most waiting for help from those with vehicles to move their belongings, few people visited the resource tables. The organizations would be there again on Tuesday, said Kim Barnette, manager of access and engagement for LAHSA.

LAHSA’s outreach workers have been in the riverbed every day for the past week preparing residents for the cleanup, and they were even in the encampments Monday speaking with people as they packed their belongings. Barnette said the outreach efforts in the area wouldn’t end with the cleanup.

“Given the circumstances, we’ve been able to assess a lot of people, get them connected and reconnected with services and placed in shelters, and we’re addressing a lot of medical concerns out there,” Barnette said. “These kinds of things create a sense of urgency, so people are more receptive to accepting the help we have to offer along with our partners.”

While there was no major pushback from the homeless against the cleanup effort, Barnette said the situation was not perfect because not enough shelter beds were available to house every person coming out of the riverbed.

“It’s not ideal,” Barnette said. “Ideal would be if we had somewhere to permanently place people. But this is a good step for public health and safety for the people living here.”

For the past month, the possibility of a cleanup has had both residents and homeless advocates concerned.

While the cities surrounding Lario Park and the Foothill Boulevard Bridge have seen their homeless numbers increase in data from the Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count, Azusa saw the greatest increase from 2018 to 2019 at 127%, for a total of 325 people counted one night in January.