While the city cautiously moves forward, “investigating” the cause of last week’s landslide that occurred on the east side of Mount Soledad, frustrated residents on the north side of the mountain ” whose street is also slipping ” are trying to figure out where they stand “” to avoid a repeat of what their neighbors experienced.
Last week, as the ground underneath Mount Soledad Road slid, carrying the road with it, two homes were buried. Four other homes slid with the road, landing in a crevasse.
“There are two types of landslides. You have mudslides with shallow debris, and you have the deep-seated landslides like the Mount Soledad slide,” said Dr. Doug Morton, a retired geologist who worked with the U.S. Geological Survey. “The second type of slide is caused by water percolating at deeper depths.”
Because last winter was tremendously dry, Morton said he wondered whether any leaking pipes were in the area or if a broken water main caused the landslide.
The residents of Soledad Mountain Road received a letter Sept. 19 from the city regarding a series of water leaks on their street from the main water line, informing them that the Water Department would be turning the main line off and installing “highline,” or above-ground piping.
At that time, the residents were told a geotechnical consultant would be hired to “conduct a soil investigation to determine the cause of the recent leaks,” the letter stated.
City officials told residents they wanted to “minimize potential for damage to the water main and roadway from possible soil movement in the 5700 block of Soledad Mountain Road.”
“There was nothing we could do,” said Rupert Adams, the geotechnical consultant the city hired. “We were there weeks before it happened, and we were there when it happened.”
The six homes that sustained the worst damage during the slide remain “red tagged,” meaning they are unstable and no one may enter. In a letter from Mayor Jerry Sanders’ office, Sanders said “these six homes are expected to remain unsafe for occupancy for at least several weeks.”
One home was removed from red tag status and is now “restricted yellow tag,” meaning the residents can retrieve some belongings with assistance. Ten other homes are “yellow tagged,” and five homes are “green tagged,” but the residents can’t get into them because they are located in the alley that is impassable due to a mound of earth from the slide.
On the side of Soledad Mountain where the landslide occurred, the city is using geotechnical consultants, engineers and others to survey the land and to research the area. They have installed instruments called inclinometers to measure any movement in the soil.
“Right now the city is trying to figure out what to do. They just installed blue pipes in the road, and diverters, which will help when it rains,” said John Hoffman, an engineer hired by the city”But as far as the streets and the houses, well, they’re in ‘Limbo Land.'”
But some residents, fearful of being left with no home and no coverage or help from the city, hired lawyers to represent them, who in turn hired their own experts to observe the process.
Although the homeowners of the six houses do not want to give their names due to pending litigation with the city of San Diego, one couple said that, as they stood at the precipice of what used to be their street, staring down at their home, they just wished someone could pick it up and move it somewhere safely.
“I just want to get all my things out,” said one woman, whose daughter is away at college, watching her home on television. “I am not rich, like they say on TV. Maybe my neighbors are.”
On the other side of the mountain, residents are experiencing dejá vu. Homeowners near the Mount Soledad cross, on Via Avola, a private road, have also experienced their street slipping.
“Our water lines broke,” said Richard Brehm, president of the homeowners association. “What we are most disturbed about is the mayor’s position. This is a private street, so he said he was going to de-energize the water line and install the ‘highline’ in our gutters until we stabilize our own street.”
Because the residents are on a private street, they have requested an emergency permit for borings to see whether their hillside is still moving, Brehm said.
Like that of their neighbors on Soledad Mountain Road, Via Avola has had water leaks from the main line ” which, according to Morton, is either due to the land sliding, or could be a precursor to a landslide, or maybe both.
“A landslide will disrupt the water lines,” Morton said. “But what came first, the chicken or the egg?”