Ground still sinking at Monongahela slide
More than two weeks after shifting ground prompted the condemnation of a house in Monongahela, a neighbor complained the nearby ground is still sinking.
“It looks honestly like a whole different world,” said Deanna Maslo, whose family home is on Jackson Street. One street over, emergency officials were called to a house in the 500 block of Second Street in the small Mon Valley city when a resident was unable to open a door. That house, which sits atop a hill at a dead end, is now condemned. The woman who lived there now stays next door with her daughter.
“The house is leaning now. I mean, it’s severe,” Maslo said.
Maslo spoke with the Observer-Reporter a day after people living in several houses in nearby Fallowfield Township were displaced by a shift in the ground. On Thursday, officials issued notices to vacate for several properties on Woodward Drive because of structural damage.
She estimated the drop from Second Street to her yard has grown to 12 feet. She said she worries someone could stumble off the street there, but no one’s been injured yet. For her, the problems for her neighbors who own the condemned house are more alarming.
“I am being affected, but this is my yard, luckily,” Maslo said. “This is their home.”
Maslo spoke to her insurance company but said she was told nothing was damaged and any claim wouldn’t be covered. The company advised her to withdraw her claim to avoid a hike in premiums.
Fire Chief Aaron Leezer told a reporter the day of the evacuation that he suspected heavy rain from the remnants of Tropical Storm Gordon, rather than underground mine subsidence, had caused the slide.
Maslo said she hasn’t gotten much more information from the city.
“They’re being very cautious in what they say,” she said. “Basically, all I heard was, it’s just rain.”
Officials, including code enforcement officer Les Pemberton, with whom Maslo said she’d spoken a couple of times; Councilman Ken Kulak, who she said came to the site Saturday; and police Chief Brian Tempest, didn’t return messages Friday afternoon.
City solicitor Todd Pappasergi, in an emailed release, said that public safety officials were notified of shifting land in the 500 block of Second Street on Sept. 11. “Since that time, city officials, engineers, and emergency management personnel have taken necessary steps to ensure the safety of any residents impacted by the land shift, and are currently investigating any further steps that may need to be taken. At this time,cCity officials do not believe that any other structures or houses other than those that were affected immediately upon the initial land shift on September 11 are at any risk. However, officials are advising residents in the vicinities of Second Street, Union Street, Parkinson Street, and Cuff Alley that this remains a developing situation and to immediately dial 911 should any further land shifting be seen. City officials and engineers will continue to monitor the situation daily until the land shifting has stabilized.” an emailed release states.
A representative of Pittsburgh-based Mackin Engineering Co., which provides engineering services for the city, also didn’t return a call seeking information about the situation.
“Nobody is giving us any answers,” Maslo said. “Basically I have to stare out my kitchen window and run out there to see what is going on.”