During three days of torrential rain, hail and snow last week, next-door neighbors Monika Buckley and Doris Munson stood at their windows and watched in fear as North Rockrimmon Creek, which runs behind their homes, swelled dramatically and their backyards shrank.

Finally, late Saturday, a large chunk of Munson’s backyard slid into the creek, dragging with it sections of her fence and huge boulders that once were her retaining wall.

“It kept eroding away and eroding away until it was probably about 5 feet from my deck,” Munson said. “I just stood at the window and watched it. I didn’t know who to call.”

About the same time, Buckley watched in shock as two decks ripped away from the back of her home and were left dangling as the ground below them plunged into the creek. In the process, two retaining walls, also made of large boulders, rolled down the steep 30-foot hillside into the creek.

“It’s a disaster,” Buckley said Tuesday as she peered over the edge of the cliff, pointing to where her boulders and fence lay in a heap. “It rained all day and night on Friday. That’s when it started. Then on Saturday it was snowing like crazy. It just kept getting worse. We moved a table off my deck. I’m glad we did. It just started pulling away from the house.

“Now, part of my property is down in the creek.”

Both fear their homes, on a Fencerail Heights cul-de-sac, will be next.

City stormwater manager Tim Mitros on Tuesday launched crews of engineers to inspect the homes to determine if they should be evacuated.

“This really is a true emergency now,” Mitros said after viewing the landslide. He said the threat to the homes is significant and he hopes his team can stop further erosion before it turns into a “super emergency.”

At least four homes in the neighborhood face significant threat as a result of last week’s storms, which triggered widespread flooding and caused severe damage to roads and at least two retaining walls across the Pikes Peak region.

“We just have so many issues all over town right now,” Mitros said. “This is probably our worst.”

Besides the issues at the Buckley and Munson homes, Mitros is concerned about erosion affecting the adjacent home of Robert and Mary Jo Greene as well as nearby homes on Viewfield Heights where the city performed temporary streambank stabilization months ago.

Buckley and Munson are especially upset because they believe their damage could have been avoided if the city had responded quicker to their pleas.

“We called the city to do something and they never did,” Buckley said. “For over a year, my neighbor Mary Jo and I have called the city to let him know that the walls of the drainage were eroding. Mr. Tim Mitros came out twice and looked at the situation, and we were told that the city had not enough money but that they would do a temporary repair.

“That was in November last year and then again in March this year, but nothing was ever done. Now we have a mudslide.”

Munson echoed her frustration.

“This whole channel has been ignored, and it’s a mess,” she said. “I’ve lived here since 2000, and it’s been eroding for a long, long time. We’re all worried the next time the rain comes.”

Mitros confirmed he’d talked to the neighbors over the past year and inspected the property in hopes of installing a temporary fix, similar to the earlier work behind Viewfield Heights.

“We wanted to get something temporary done by June,” he said. “Now we’re going for a permanent fix.”

His boss, public works director Travis Easton, confirmed the city’s commitment to fix the problem and was troubled the city let the problem languish more than a year.

“I don’t blame them for being upset,” Easton said. “We can’t just say we don’t have any money and not do anything. We have to find a long-term solution and do just that.”

Easton said he has consulted with Mayor Steve Bach and the administration is preparing a request for an emergency appropriation to cover the work.

But it may take several days, even weeks, Mitros said. And the cost could run upwards of $500,000. He suggested a plan may not be ready until after the May 19 mayoral runoff election between Mary Lou Makepeace and John Suthers. In that case, the new mayor will have to handle the issue.

“We pulled plans from Regional Building and determined Monika’s house has piers that go about 12 feet below the basement foundation,” Mitros said. “Her house should be safe from sliding. We’re still looking at the others.”

Next, engineers will do a slope analysis based on the soils so a plan can be developed.

“We’re talking about various solutions including using a massive boulder-stacked wall to keep the soil back,” Mitros said.

Buckley just hopes a solution is found quickly because she considers the situation so dire she canceled a trip to her native Germany to see relatives so she could deal with the crisis.

“There’s nothing we can do as homeowners until the city fixes the problem in the bottom of the creek,” she said. “It has to be rebuilt from the bottom. I’m just afraid the next rain will wash my house down next.”

In this May 11, 2015, photo, a landslide can be seen on the hill behind homes on Fencerail Heights in Rockrimmon. Homeowner Monika Buckley said she and her neighbors repeatedly asked the city to secure the drainage ditch but were told there was no money. Now, after days of torrential rain, hail and snow, the hillside is sliding, threatening their homes. Bill Vogrin / The Gazette

Bill Vogrin – Side Streets

In this May 11, 2015, photo, Monika Buckley views the remnants of her fence and retaining wall that sloughed off a hillside behind her home on Fencerail Heights in Rockrimmon. Buckley said she and her neighbors repeatedly asked the city to secure the drainage ditch but were told there was no money. Now, after days of torrential rain, hail and snow, the hillside is sliding, swallowing fences and huge boulder retaining walls and threatening their homes. Bill Vogrin / The Gazette

The decks on the back of Monika Buckley’s home on Fencerail Heights in Rockrimmon are pulling away as the hillside below is sliding into a drainage ditch in this May 11, 2015, photo. Buckley said she and her neighbors repeatedly asked the city to secure the drainage ditch but were told there was no money. Now, after days of torrential rain, hail and snow, the hillside is sliding, swallowing fences, huge rock retaining walls and threatening their homes. Bill Vogrin / The Gazette

In this May 11, 2015, photo, Monika Buckley views the remnants of her neighbor’s fence and retaining wall that sloughed off a hillside behind their homes on Fencerail Heights in Rockrimmon. Buckley said she and her neighbors repeatedly asked the city to secure the drainage ditch but were told there was no money. Now, after days of torrential rain, hail and snow, the hillside is sliding, threatening their homes. Bill Vogrin / The Gazette

In this May 11, 2015, photo, a landslide can be seen on the hill behind the home of Doris Munson on Fencerail Heights in Rockrimmon. Munson said she and her neighbors repeatedly asked the city to secure the drainage ditch but were told there was no money. Now, after days of torrential rain, hail and snow, the hillside is sliding, threatening their homes. Bill Vogrin / The Gazette

In this May 11, 2015, photo, a landslide can be seen on the hill behind homes on Fencerail Heights in Rockrimmon. Homeowner Monika Buckley said she and her neighbors repeatedly asked the city to secure the drainage ditch but were told there was no money. Now, after days of torrential rain, hail and snow, the hillside is sliding, threatening their homes. Bill Vogrin / The Gazette

In this May 11, 2015, photo, a landslide can be seen on the hill behind homes on Fencerail Heights in Rockrimmon. Homeowner Monika Buckley said she and her neighbors repeatedly asked the city to secure the drainage ditch but were told there was no money. Now, after days of torrential rain, hail and snow, the hillside is sliding, threatening their homes. Bill Vogrin / The Gazette

A city stormwater official declared the erosion in North Rockrimmon Creek behind homes on Fencerail Heights, seen May 12, 2015, an emergency Tuesday and the worst in the city. Engineers began studying whether four houses are at risk in the landslide and what measures could be taken to stabilize the hillside. The Gazette file

A city stormwater official declared the erosion in North Rockrimmon Creek behind homes on Viewfield Heights, seen May 12, 2015, an emergency Tuesday and the worst in the city. Engineers began studying whether four houses are at risk in the landslide and what measures could be taken to stabilize the hillside. Bill Vogrin / The Gazette