Posted on 01/25/2010 10:22:53 AM PST by NormsRevenge
SAN ANTONIO – Dozens of homes were evacuated in San Antonio after the ground below began shifting, creating crevices up to 15 feet deep and nearly splitting a nearby retaining wall in half, officials said.
About 80 homes were first evacuated on Sunday after residents in a northwest side subdivision reported that the ground was caving behind several houses. No one was injured.
The large crack in the retaining wall sent soil tumbling out below. Fences were tossed askew and crumpled like accordions, and aerial photos showed land had given way near the foundations of several homes.
Engineers at the scene Monday were trying to determine why the ground was shifting and how much damage it could cause.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
I saw someone talking about The Phil Schneider Story on the blogs this morning, first time I ever read something like that. Yegads and little fishes!!!
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/82553087.html
Broke into the wrong G@# D$%& Rec-Room, didn’t it?
Yes, but if you have just a few common household chemicals, in the proper proportions, you can take care of it.
All parties involved will be claiming "it's not my dam fault".
Pedant that I am, it’s obvious that the caption on this thread was written by one of the lefties at AP.
If the ground DID NOT shift BELOW these homes, they must have been CAVES.
Then again, since the left has turned the world upside down, the earth in some place is actually ABOVE these homes.
Satan trying to escape hell to get away from Teddy Kennedy?
(with due regards to previous thread)
LOL. At least it’s not “Dante’s Peak” or “Avalanche!”
The Crownridge area of San Antonio is across the northern rim of the city (hence the name 'Crownridge") and is where the Texas Hill Country starts building up from the Coastal Plain. Although the area is very rocky, it is not necessarily stable.
Typical subdivision construction in these areas involves excavating a hillside to create a level building site, exposing bare rock outcroppings on the hillside. These exposed hillsides are often covered with a stone veneer wall or a commercial product such as Pavestone blocks.
The assumption on the part of the builders is that the rock substrate is stable enough to support itself and everything built on top of it. The 'retaining walls' described in this story have no structural purpose at all - they are used to simply provide a more attractive view of what would otherwise be an exposed hillside.
As others on this thread have noted, this area is rife with limestone which is a rather soft and porous rock. While there are caves up towards Austin, I do not believe there are any underground caves or caverns in Bexar County.
“It’s George W. Bush’s fault.”
““retreating scarp”
That sounds like a description of certain politicians.
I stand corrected.
I’m not sure if that is Bexar County or not, but it is definitely a heckuva lot closer to San Antonio than it is to Austin.
Except for the Natural Bridge Caverns just north of San Antonio in Garden Ridge and the Bracken Bat Cave on Bat Cave Rd in Garden Ridge there really aren’t any caves in San Antonio area :^))
There is actually a ten-year statute of limitations on construction defects.
Maybe the cave in was due to the excess of Mexicans tunneling from the border and not checking their location for egress?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.