Guerneville house could collapse onto the road and other homes
Guerneville house could collapse onto the road and other homes
A hillside neighborhood in south Guerneville is hoping they will not be forced to evacuate because of a large house that could crash down on several others or experience a major landslide. Guernevilles Neeley Road and River Lane area is under an evacuation warning due to the risk of a landslide and tree falls.
GUERNEVILLE, Calif. - A hillside neighborhood in south Guerneville is hoping they will not be forced to evacuate because of a large house that could crash down on several others or experience a major landslide. Guerneville's Neeley Road and River Lane area is under an evacuation warning due to the risk of a landslide and tree falls.
Hanging from a hillside
This single, unoccupied home hangs precariously on a steep hillside, which it has done since Monday morning. There was a retaining wall and a parking spot construction going on at the time just below the home, as well as some tree removals.
May Maye lives right across the street. "I just heard 'boom' and actually, the next-door neighbor called me and told me, 'Hey, the house is falling down,’ said Maye.
What has happened here has changed the environment. Take a look. The house is no longer sitting on the strong foundation that it once did.
The surrounding trees are settling into a new kind of earth that has been affected by the slide and the slide itself is getting eroded by rain. The house could collapse. Trees could fall down and the slide could come down much further than it has now.
All this rain is not helping. "They cut out a couple trees and when you pull out trees, there's gonna be erosion," said Maye.
Evacuation warning
An evacuation warning has been issued to neighbors. A warning is a serious matter since it is just one step below and evacuation order.
It is issued to inform potential evacuees to prepare for an immediate evacuation on a moment's notice with advice on which exit routes to take.
Dig deeper:
Dave Harris, Managing Director of Oracle Consulting Geotechnical Services, who has no connection with this home, often constructs fixes for homes damaged in slides to bring them up to legally required code standards.
"To get to the point where it's at now, somewhere in the chain of professional responsibilities there's been some mishaps and breakdowns. It's not uncommon to have these circumstances where there's been a lot of wet weather that has caused slippage in the soil that has existed naturally for connection," said Harris.
This site is just downstream from the bridge where an entire home collapsed into the Russian River. Nonetheless, most people who live here are here for good. "Absolutely. I don't know where else to go. I love it. It's beautiful," said Maye.
Who ultimately pays will be decided in court.
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