LAKEPORT, Calif. – More moving earth and signs of new cracking pavement at the Lakeside Heights subdivision in north Lakeport are creating new problems for residents and county officials.
On Tuesday morning the Board of Supervisors heard another update on the subdivision, where seven of the 29 homes have been red-tagged due to landslide damage and six more have been voluntarily evacuated since late in March.
The Tuesday report pointed to new concerns, with Special Districts Administrator Mark Dellinger telling the board that new fissures are opening up in previously unaffected parts of the subdivision, with pavement on another of the neighborhood's streets starting to separate.
There also has been new movement noted to the northwest, which has even surprised the geotechnical engineer hired to investigate the ground movement, Dellinger said.
On April 16, the Board of Supervisors declared an emergency in response to the situation at the subdivision, with Public Works Director Scott De Leon named incident commander late last month.
He said the primary focus has been to get water and sewer infrastructure bypassed out of the slide zone. “That effort is nearly complete,” De Leon said, adding that Pacific Gas and Electric also has moved an oil-filled transformer.
De Leon said they are trying to keep as many people in their homes as long as possible.
Dellinger said a number of county departments are monitoring the situation on a daily basis.
He said two new manholes have been installed and long-term design the for relocation of utilities is under way.
“This is a very dynamic situation” he said.
Dellinger said his department is trying to schedule another leak test to find out where the water saturating the ground is originating.
On Monday the county submitted a request to the California Emergency Management Agency to cover additional geotechnical work at a cost of $43,000; Dellinger said they want to be able to define the area of unstable ground so they can design infrastructure solutions.
He said if CalEMA decides to fund the request, it's likely that staff from other state agencies will be brought in to assist in the investigation.
Since the landslide began in late March, the county has spent about $81,000 in materials and labor, not counting design work, at Lakeside Heights, said Dellinger.
De Leon said they are still trying to zero in on the water source that seems to be exacerbating the shifting ground. “The question is, what's the source, what's the cause?”
He said Special Districts had done its own leak test previously and found that its own system wasn't leaking, and yet water is continuing to come out of the hillside.
De Leon said contingency plans are in place should the subdivision need to be evacuated or if the landslide moves further and blocks nearby Hill Road.
He said that on Monday, state Sen. Noreen Evans' staff contacted the county to ask for information about the situation.
The subdivision's residents have contacted state officials – including Evans and Gov. Jerry Brown – to lobby for a state emergency declaration, as Lake County News reported on Tuesday.
De Leon said the county still isn't certain of where a state emergency declaration is in the pipeline.
Capt. Chris Macedo of the Lake County Sheriff's Office said he had received word early that morning that CalEMA may approve the request for county funding to investigate the landslide source.
Supervisor Anthony Farrington said he visited the subdivision Monday night, and in a week's time there was a noticeable change, and not for the good. “It's very concerning to me.”
He said letters have been sent to state and federal legislators and Evans already had completed her letter. There remains a question about whether the landslide and the damaged homes will meet the state's emergency threshold.
US Sen. Dianne Feinstein's staff is sending a member to tour the subdivision on Thursday, Farrington said.
Farrington added that he believed there needed to be further hydrological analysis of the area, where wells had been dug years ago and old water lines may be in place.
Supervisor Denise Rushing asked about the new spots of cracking earth. Dellinger said new fissures appeared in an empty lot at 5427 Lancaster Road, the roadway along which most of the damaged homes have been located.
At that spot a contractor also dug a hole and found what looked like unconsolidated material from the fault plane. Dellinger also pointed to separating concrete on Oxford Drive, which raised the question of how much farther the ground movement can extend.
Dellinger said that when a work crew was construction a manhole, they found a lot of groundwater. He said the county's infrastructure pipes tend to act like French drains – a fact pointed out last week by resident Randall Fitzgerald, who had observed some of the manhole excavations. Dellinger also noted that flowing out of the ground in the area of Downing Drive appears to have been diminished.
Rushing questioned if the ground movement could be damaging pipes in new places and causing new leaks. Dellinger said that concern is one reason why they want to do another leak test.
Fitzgerald told the board that despite signage asking all but residents not to enter the subdivision due to safety concerns, they're getting visits from curious onlookers.
De Leon told the board that while it may be distasteful, the county needs to consider the worst case scenario, including if no state aid is made available.
County staff is scheduled to continue bringing the board weekly updates on the subdivision.
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