Slope failure saga in Hills of Rivermist subdivision (San Antonio, Anton: hotel, houses)

[Bo]

KSAT and MySA are covering a sinkhole that has opened in a Centex neighborhood under construction in NW San Antonio. Here's the location and an article with a photo:

29.556071 -98.649308 - Google Maps

Sinkhole prompts evacuation (http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/Sinkhole_prompts_evacuation_on_Northwest_Side.html - broken link)

[Bo]

Here's a good photo. It's described as "Homes on NW side being evacuated after the ground starts to shift and nearly fall off a 30ft cliff."

Homes on NW side being evacuated after the ground starts to s... on Twitpic

[mmac12]

OH NO say it ain't so, a KB neighborhood!!! On a serious note I feel for those poor homeowners.

[sabrotha]

Actually its Centex Homes that developed that neighborhood.

[Deep Forest]

Great site preparation there boys......

[Bo]

Originally Posted by sabrotha

Actually its Centex Homes that developed that neighborhood.

I see that on the Twitter feed now. I corrected the original post.

A recent update says that Centex is moving the displaced families into the Drury Inn on their nickel while everyone figures out what can be done to fix this.

[rd2007]

The neighborhood is called the Hills at Rivermist and it's good to see a builder taking swift action in support of the families

[perticusrex]

Agreed RD. I feel very bad for the families affected.

[Dopo]

Things like this is what makes me wonder if those builders should be required by law to get a geological study done on the land before building houses on it.

[Lea1027]

[FONT=Verdana]

Originally Posted by rd2007

The neighborhood is called the Hills at Rivermist and it's good to see a builder taking swift action in support of the families

[/FONT]


[FONT=Verdana]Unfortunately I must disagree, as a homeowner on that hill who was evacuated this morning Centex has handled this entire situation poorly. The gentlemen on site had no clue what was going on, were even seen laughing and shrugging saying "I have no idea how to fix this". After talking to several other neighbors it was found out that they (Centex) has known this retaining wall has never been safe. An engineer was brought out and Centex was informed that the wall was not structurally sound and would one day collapse. Yet they still continued to build homes on the lots and charge a premium between $6,000-$10,000 because we were on that hill. One homeowner had a Centex representative out at his home as recent as Friday 1/22 because the ground was separating from his foundation and was told this was happening because he had not watered his yard enough, he now has a 20 foot hole under his home.[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana]This morning we were given minutes to grab what we could from our homes and be forced out with little information, besides there’s a sinkhole and you can go to a hotel.[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana]So no Centex has not taken swift action they have left many people without homes and answers.[/FONT]