- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
Home collapses on hillside in Lakeside Heights subdivision
LAKEPORT, Calif. – A north Lakeport subdivision where several homes were damaged by a landslide earlier this year has witnessed more destruction this week, as one of the homes collapsed on Monday.
The Lakeside Heights home of Jagtar Singh had been halfway suspended on a hillside after part of its floor had fallen away earlier this year.
However, this week the back half of the house split off and slid down the hill.
The Singh home was among several damaged by the landslide, which began to crack and split through the hilltop subdivision in March.
Most of the damaged homes, including Singh's, were located along Lancaster Road.
The causes of the slide are still under dispute, but in some part appear related to saturation of the hillside by a water source.
The subdivision's property owners, who are preparing to file a lawsuit against the county, believe it's a county water system that is the source of the water that saturated the hillside. County officials maintain that leak tests don't support that conclusion.
Earlier this month, two of the damaged homes were demolished by Coleman Construction, which the county hired to carry out the abatements as part of an effort to winterize and stabilize the hillside.
As part of the contract with the county, Coleman Construction covered the slide area with tarps.
County officials are concerned about keeping the land dry in order to prevent the ground – which in recent months has stopped moving – from again become saturated and beginning to move.
Randall Fitzgerald, president of the subdivision's homeowners association, told Lake County News that the association, at its own expense, also had winterization work completed at the site to complement the county grading and tarping.
The additional work done included the building of a storm drain bypass and tarping all of the Lancaster Road area, Fitzgerald said.
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