San Francisco crews work to stabilize Telegraph Hill ahead of storm

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- On Tuesday, San Francisco crews began removing loose rock from the Lombard Street section of Telegraph Hill that had problems in 2012. With heavy rain on the way, the city is concerned about a repeat of that when several boulders smashed a car and threatened an entire apartment complex.

"The first step we are seeing now is removing loose vegetation," said Rinaldi Wibowo of the Department of Public Works.

This is part of a much bigger project to stabilize this hill.

In 2012, several days of rain caused a rockslide that not only damaged this car but threatened an apartment complex.

After most of the debris is cleaned off, sometime in January, the larger project will begin.

"They are going to use rock anchors, there's about 300 of them to install into the hillside," said Wibowo.

Two meshes will then be put in to contain any other falling rocks.

The mayor of San Francisco was there and told the project should be completed by June 2015, at a cost of $3.9 million.

"Maybe down the road this qualifies for some kind of federal aid, but I'm not worried about that. We do have the resources and I want to spend the kind of money it would take to make sure that this hillside is safe for people," said Mayor Ed Lee.

Download the ABC7 News weather app here.

Click here to help your family prepare for the next big storm.