MONTVILLE, Conn. (AP) – Attorney General Richard Blumenthal and local officials toured a shopping plaza construction site Sunday after heavy rains collapsed a retaining wall and sent tons of mud into residential back yards.

The attorney general plans to seek a court order today to stop the construction but as it turned out, he didn’t have to wait that long. He said construction workers were back on the site Sunday afternoon during his visit and he personally ordered them to stop. They did.

“I told them I was the attorney general…and they were going to take the rest of the day off,” Blumenthal said.

Several residents had to be quickly evacuated Friday night when the retaining wall broke loose. Many have been able to return home and met Sunday with Blumenthal, who alleges the construction is in violation of environmental and safety laws.

About 10 homes have been affected by the mudslide but more are in jeopardy if the erosion continues he said.

“The damage is huge,” he said. “The mudslides harm property values around the site. I spoke with all of the neighbors who have a right to be angry and outraged.”

State environmental officials have said the project did not have a permit for a water runoff basin. Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Gina McCarthy said an application was filed in August, after the basin was built.

“Our issue is that we didn’t issue the permit or inspect the site,” McCarthy said. “We saw the basin on the news, and saw the application on the desk for that. When we saw the mudslide, we knew something had to be done.”

Project developer Second Family LLC, has said there is no correlation between the mudslide and the retaining wall, which officials said is 100 to 200 yards away from the dirt slope where the mud originated.

Montville Mayor Joseph Jaskiewicz said he wants assurances the $27 million project can proceed safely.

“If I get told that (the project is) going to jeopardize people, I won’t go through with it,” Jaskiewicz said.