On Monday, May 6, 2013, Robin and Scott Spivey, a former building inspector, were stunned after their home dropped 10 feet below the street in Lakeport, California. Eight other homes have also sunk, breaking up and are now abandoned, while ten other homeowners have been given “notice of imminent evacuation” because the unexpected and unexplained ground sinking jeopardizes them as well.
Monday, May 6, 2013, Robin and Scott Spivey, a former building inspector,
were stunned after their home dropped 10 feet below the street in Lakeport, California.
Eight other homes have also sunk, breaking up and are now abandoned, while ten
other homeowners have been given “notice of imminent evacuation” because
the unexpected and unexplained ground sinking jeopardizes
them as well. Image © 2013 by Rich Pedroncelli/AP.
On May 12, 2013, Associated Press reported: “The Lake County Board of Supervisors asked Gov. Jerry Brown to declare an emergency so funding might be available to stabilize utilities and determine the cause of the collapse. On May 6, state Sen. Noreen Evans, D-Santa Rosa, wrote a letter of support asking Brown for immediate action. The California Emergency Management Agency said Brown was still assessing the situation. On Wednesday, May 8, the state sent a water resources engineer and a geologist to look at the problem. Sen. Dianne Feinstein sent a representative the next day on May 9.
“Officials believe water that has bubbled to the surface is playing a role in the destruction. But nobody can explain why suddenly there is plentiful water atop the hill in a county with groundwater shortages.
“‘That's the big question,’ said Scott De Leon, county public works director. ‘We have a dormant volcano, and I'm certain a lot of things that happen here (in Lake County) are a result of that, but we don't know about this.’
“Damaged houses in the subdivision have been tagged for mandatory removal, but the hillside is so unstable it can't support the heavy equipment necessary to perform the job. So far insurance companies have left the owners of the homes — valued between $200,000 and $250,000, or twice the median price in the county — dangling too. Subsidence is not covered, homeowners said. So until someone figures out whether something else is going on, they'll be in limbo.”
One geophysicist says that hard bedrock 25 feet down might be shifting, but reasons are unknown.
Monday, May 6, 2013, Robin and Scott Spivey, a former building inspector,
were stunned after their home dropped 10 feet below the street in Lakeport, California.
Eight other homes have also sunk, breaking up and are now abandoned, while ten
other homeowners have been given “notice of imminent evacuation” because
the unexpected and unexplained ground sinking jeopardizes
them as well. Image © 2013 by Rich Pedroncelli/AP.
On May 12, 2013, Associated Press reported: “The Lake County Board of Supervisors asked Gov. Jerry Brown to declare an emergency so funding might be available to stabilize utilities and determine the cause of the collapse. On May 6, state Sen. Noreen Evans, D-Santa Rosa, wrote a letter of support asking Brown for immediate action. The California Emergency Management Agency said Brown was still assessing the situation. On Wednesday, May 8, the state sent a water resources engineer and a geologist to look at the problem. Sen. Dianne Feinstein sent a representative the next day on May 9.
“Officials believe water that has bubbled to the surface is playing a role in the destruction. But nobody can explain why suddenly there is plentiful water atop the hill in a county with groundwater shortages.
“‘That's the big question,’ said Scott De Leon, county public works director. ‘We have a dormant volcano, and I'm certain a lot of things that happen here (in Lake County) are a result of that, but we don't know about this.’
“Damaged houses in the subdivision have been tagged for mandatory removal, but the hillside is so unstable it can't support the heavy equipment necessary to perform the job. So far insurance companies have left the owners of the homes — valued between $200,000 and $250,000, or twice the median price in the county — dangling too. Subsidence is not covered, homeowners said. So until someone figures out whether something else is going on, they'll be in limbo.”
One geophysicist says that hard bedrock 25 feet down might be shifting, but reasons are unknown.
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