San Antonio Ground Shift
As many as 80 homes are said to be in danger of structural failure in Northwest San Antonio due to a huge shift in the supporting soil.  City officials say they initially evacuated 80 homes in the hills of the Rivermist subdivision due to what appears to be a landslide caused by a faulty retaining wall.  No injuries were reported and about 25 of the 80 families were allowed to return to their homes on Monday. Fire Department district chief Nim Kidd who is also the emergency management coordinator said that at least seven streets had to be closed and that the soil was moving about 4 inches and hour. There are several 15 foot fishers that opened up when a retaining wall gave way and the soil and debris poured through. These fishers threaten the structural stability of any homes that are close to them and can be a serious hazard to anyone around them.

San Antonio Ground Shift
February 1st, 2010

As many as 80 homes are said to be in danger of structural failure in Northwest San Antonio due to a huge shift in the supporting soil.  City officials say they initially evacuated 80 homes in the hills of the Rivermist subdivision due to what appears to be a landslide caused by a faulty retaining wall.  No injuries were reported and about 25 of the 80 families were allowed to return to their homes on Monday.

Fire Department district chief Nim Kidd who is also the emergency management coordinator said that at least seven streets had to be closed and that the soil was moving about 4 inches and hour. There are several 15 foot fishers that opened up when a retaining wall gave way and the soil and debris poured through. These fishers threaten the structural stability of any homes that are close to them and can be a serious hazard to anyone around them.

Kim said the fire department started evacuating homeowners when one person called in and said the back yard was falling down.  Sever of the subdivisions residents stayed in local hotels Sunday night after the evacuation.  Although they were worried about the cost of damage that could be done to their homes, they did not have to worry about paying for the hotels.  Developers of the property paid for all hotels and food for the families that had to be evacuated.

It’s not yet known what caused the land to shift and the wall to fail.  The National Weather Service says there were no earthquakes or seismic activity in the area in the past 7 days and the weather for Sunday and Monday was sunny and dry.   Fire Department Chief Nim Kidd also said the city would not investigate the accident due to the property developers having their engineers already on the investigation.

The developer of the subdivision is Dallas-based Centex Homes Inc., which recently merged with Pulte Homes Inc. of Michigan.  Members from both Centex Homes and Pulte Homes held a meeting at a local hotel Monday.  The scene at the meeting was one of anger and frustration as 200 home owners and residents of the neighborhood gathered to vent their frustrations to the Centex and Pulte officials.

Centex engineers believe the fall of the stone retaining wall was a side effect of the shifting soil and not the cause.  Builders and engineers will be working together to stop any further movement of soil and determine the cause of the original soil shift.  They are planning on setting up a website as a resource for the homeowners to check on the progress of the investigation.

Homeowners however aren’t satisfied with the response of the developers.  Many people are worried about several issues one being the safety of their families.  The next major issue is property value.  Many of the homeowners want to know what kind of damage this will do to the property value and if so how long will it take for their property’s value to rebound.  For now homeowners will have to wait until the investigation is over to get any answers about their homes.

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