California subdivision mysyeriously sinks away . pictures

[Liberal_in_LA]

California Subdivision Mysteriously Sinks Away
EIGHT HOMES ABANDONED, 10 MORE SOON TO FOLLOW

– Scott and Robin Spivey had a sinking feeling that something was wrong with their home when cracks began snaking across their walls in March. The cracks soon turned into gaping fractures, and within two weeks their 600-square-foot garage broke from the house and the entire property dropped 10 feet below the street. It wasn't long before the houses on both sides collapsed as the ground gave way in the Spiveys' neighborhood in Lake County, about 100 miles north of San Francisco.

Eight homes are now abandoned and 10 more are under notice of imminent evacuation as a hilltop with sweeping vistas of Clear Lake and the Mount Konocti volcano swallows the subdivision built 30 years ago. 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," says the 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." Less »

http://www.newser.com/story/167761/california-subdivision-sinks-away.html?utm_source=part&utm_medium=united&utm_campaign=rss_top

[jberryhill]

1. It's in California - what's the mystery?

If it isn't being mudslided, burned, shot at, seismically shaken, or occupied by a celebrity asshole, then I guess something else dreadful has to happen to it.

I'm shocked they all haven't been accidentally foreclosed on.

[Liberal_in_LA]

3. but the weather here is marvelous

[jberryhill]

4. Lol

And that's a good thing for as frequently as one is suddenly bereft of shelter, and the manifold ways in which it happens.

[CreekDog]

29. in a bad mood?

or just hate California?

oh yeah, you hate everything.

you don't even like when kids' families protest being kicked out in violation of the ADA of a restaurant.

[jberryhill]

31. What a bizarre response

I feel fine, Creek, thanks for asking.

[jberryhill]

36. Are you quite done for today?

Got it all out of your system?

[tularetom]

2. There's a lot of pressure on local government bureaucrats to approve new development

It creates Jobs, jobs, jobs.

The politicians all run on a platform of economic development and even though residential development has bee proven over and over again to be a net drain of governmental services (as opposed to commercial or industrial projects that actually create jobs and generate sales taxes) the elected officials will usually jump backwards through their own assholes to approve any project that some fly by night developer puts before them.

The staff is between a rock and a hard place in situations like this. They generally try to insist that certain standards be met but they always meet with resistance from the developers (it costs them money to do things right) and skepticism from the politicians (they want to keep their phoney baloney jobs and they love those developer campaign contributions). So the staff recommendations often are ignored when projects are approved.

But later on when the shit hits the fan, you can be certain of where the politicians who overrode the staff will be. Right out in front of the mob pointing fingers at the staff and demanding to know how the fuck such an outrage was allowed to take place.

I've seen it a hundred times. Heads will probably roll over this but it won't be the heads of those who allowed the problem to happen.

[raccoon]

11. Great post. nt

[CreekDog]

34. 30 years ago is not new development

[bananas]

5. Classic poultergeist activity: "They're here"

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poltergeist_(film)

[TransitJohn]

13. "YOU ONLY MOVED THE HEAD STONES, DIDN'T YA!!?? YOU ONLY MOVED THE HEADSTONES!!!!"

My first thought as well.

[msanthrope]

20. First thing I thought of! nt

[hunter]

6. Geology doesn't care about people...

Clear Lake is believed to be the oldest lake in North America, due to a geological fluke. The lake sits on a huge block of stone which slowly tilts in the northern direction at the same rate as the lake fills in with sediment, thus keeping the water at roughly the same depth. The geology of the county is chaotic, being based on Franciscan Assemblage hills. Numerous small faults are present in the south end of the lake as well as many old volcanoes, the largest being Cobb Mountain. The geologic history of the county shows events of great violence, such as the eruption of Mount Konocti and Mount St. Helena, and the collapse of Cow Mountain, which created the hills around the county seat of Lakeport. Blue Lakes, Lake Pillsbury, and Indian Valley Reservoir are the county's other major bodies of water.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_County,_California

Developers only care about money.

[Purrfessor]

22. I lived in Cobb Mountain for six years,

worked at the base of Mount Konocti, shopped in Lakeport. Beautiful country and wine producing area. Lake County is the first county north of Napa County.

[Liberty Belle]

7. Is there any fracking going on nearby?

[TransitJohn]

15. LOL

Horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing in California? No, not likely. And it's pretty unlikely that the Monterey Shale will ever be exploited that way, because of California politics.

[Igel]

18. Geology doesn't need fracking.

A small subsidence a mile away can fracture a layer of rock above subsurface water that's under pressure. Or subsidence can close off the water's old drainage route, forcing it to find another way down the slope or out to the surface.

The change may have happened quite a few months ago, and the water that's been plaguing this subdivision for a couple of months may have fallen as rain last fall. Or may have been trapped underground for the last century.

The change may have been natural. It's possible it's due to human activity. It's possible that somebody stopped harvesting well water and the area's returning to normal. Or perhaps humans did something 20 years ago that impeded the effect of a geologic change that happened 10 years ago until now.

Some geologist will come up with a plausible scenario based on the details of the area, everybody will say, "Yes, that's likely" and it'll be reported as the actual reason. We'll be satisfied with our absolute not-quite-truth and move on to something else that really doesn't matter.

[cui bono]

8. Do they not dig down to bedrock for the foundations?

Seems like that would be code and it doesn't look like those are down to bedrock.

[olddots]

10. what foundations ?

pour a slab get some crappy lumber ,spray on some stucco and instant profit ----it's sad these houses will crumble no matter where they are built .

[Egalitarian Thug]

12. California has no accessible bedrock to speak of, it is sand.

You get a much better idea of their geology from a kilometer offshore. Just piles of sand slowly moving to the ocean.

[cui bono]

19. I'm in SoCal and I'm pretty sure my geologic report shows that I'm on bedrock.

In order to get a permit to add on to my house we had to dig down to the bedrock, irrc. It was a long time ago and I was quite overwhelmed by having gotten yellow tagged from the earthquake that hit four days after a lengthy and combative closing.

There may be areas that aren't that way though. I remember hearing about several houses in a rich community in Orange County I think where the houses were all sliding away.

[FreeState]

24. +1 - we had to hit bedrock or no permit

and this was just for a deck. 25 feet to light on the deck footings too. It was a lot of money, we even had to get FAA clearance for the damn deck.

[Spider Jerusalem]

9. nothing mysterious about it

"groundwater shortages" = subsidence from over-pumping the aquifer. (This is also a problem in Arizona and New Mexico, where the water table has dropped as much as 200 feet in some places.)

[redqueen]

16. +1

Same with sinkholes.

[hobbit709]

14. In the land of shake and bake, along with slip and slide, they're surprised and mystified?

Judging from the pictures of the terrain, I'd say nobody had a geologist look at the ground before development started.

[CreekDog]

30. I live 6 blocks from the San Andreas, I have lived here for decades and not seen a sinkhole

or house fall in or anything like what you're saying.

obviously you just think California is a big cartoon, and haven't been here nor had to deal with some of the toughest building codes in the world.

good luck wherever you are, i am sure the building codes and standards are not as strong as here.

[hobbit709]

32. I was in L.A. area in 71.

seeing, hearing and feeling the ground move is pretty impressive.
Those houses are not on the fault but old volcanic strata, which has different problems, it's usually loose and porous.

I guess when the big one hits, and it will, you'll find out if the building codes were good enough.

Having seen both, I don't live where the ground moves or the mountains smoke.

[CreekDog]

35. the ground moves everywhere

you think it does not?

enjoy the fantasy.

[hobbit709]

37. not the way it does in a 6.0 and above.

Hope you don't live in one of the areas subject to liquefaction. Japan has tight building codes too but that didn't help Kobe.

[SidDithers]

17. Sudden Valley Homes, surely...nt

Sid

[Brother Buzz]

21. Methinks Lake Country has a brand new hot spring in the making

I'll wait for the pros to confirm my suspicions.

[datasuspect]

23. soulless housing offends god

[NV Whino]

25. I'm going to take a wild guess

And say no one did a geological survey before they built the houses. Not to mention they look like crap houses to start with.

That is a geologically active area. Building without a study is a disaster waiting to happen.

[Brother Buzz]

27. The houses have been there 30 years

Something changed geologically.

[NV Whino]

28. That tends to happen in California

But, developers have a habit of circumventing regs when it suits them. Geological surveys are expensive, so a lot of people (buyers as well as developers) find a way around them.

Fortunately, my house is on bedrock. I'm a few miles down the road, by the way.

[dimbear]

26. I live on Cobb mountain, just a few miles away. Having done some digging myself,

I can assure you the history of the geology is amazingly violent. The soil consists of clay mixed with boulders of varying size which must have rained down from the sky after a volcanic eruption. Needless to say digging around here is fun.

You make some little bends to go around the really massive rocks. That's why my sewer line isn't a straight line.

We get earthquakes all the time, but little ones. Hopefully little ones.