Hole opens beneath Placer County home, killing man

[Kadie]

Hole opens beneath Placer County home, killing man
Demian Bulwa, Chronicle Staff Writer

Sunday, April 23, 2006



Residents of private Sawmill Road in the Gold Country town of Alta (Placer County) knew that shafts from the old Nary Red Mine snaked near the bellies of their hillside homes. But they never expected this.

After a wet winter, the ground opened up and swallowed a 27-year-old schoolteacher at 9:30 p.m. Friday. He was in the converted garage of his family's home, where he lived with his pregnant wife, authorities said.

She escaped and called for help, but it was too late. State forestry department firefighters found Jason Chellew in a 10-foot-deep sinkhole with no pulse.

The ordeal wasn't over. The earth shook and sank, forcing the firefighters to retreat from the house because they were concerned for their own safety.

So, on Sunday, Chellew's body remained in a hole that is now 20 feet deep as state geologists studied the options -- which included demolishing the 1978 house before trying a recovery.

more...
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/04/23/MNG1VIE33B6.DTL


My thoughts go out to this man's family. How tragic.

[Fridays Child]

1. How tragic for this family.

And imagine what just happened to property values around there.

[TomInTib]

2. After all the rain we've had, I imagine there will be a lot more of these

When the snowpack starts melting we will have a mess on our hands.

I know people in the Marin Headlands who are seeing seeps and runoff where they haven't appeared in anyone's memory.

We have had slides here (Belvedere/Tiburon, Marin Co.) in places that have never expeienced any at all.

Sure am glad I am on solid bedrock, cosidering it is a 70 foot drop into the Bay.

[whathappened]

3. wtf is going on

with these so called planers , these people are so big to build these home , they don't even stop and see what is under them from the past , my sisters daughters home in st. pete fl. is having toubles with her windows breaking , her neighbor home is sinking into the ground , they make them look pretty and then sell them for the big bucks and then down the road the buyer has to deal with the problem

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

4. Any place that has been undermined has this problem

In Southern Illinois, part of a state highway sank after heavy rains, etc, caused an underground shaft to give way. This was back in the '70s, and the town where I lived then did a check to see exactly where the old mine shafts were. Seems records were a bit spotty, and they couldn't actually be sure. That may have been the case here. Sad that it had to happen, though.