Saturday, March 02, 2013

Sinkholes: Are we safe?

Some of you have heard about the Florida guy that got sucked into a sinkhole along with part of his house yesterday. Wouldn't that be your worst nightmare? It made me wonder what kind of chance there is of that happening here?

Lewrockwell.com posted a story today with a map that put my mind at ease. Looks like we're not in a danger zone. Still, just cause you're paranoid...and sometimes sinkholes can be caused by broken water lines and such. Remember that big one in San Francisco a year or two, or three ago?

I wonder about H Street in Eureka, a few blocks south of Harris, every time I drive by there. The road always has two or three spots where water seeps up through the pavement. Must be an underground spring or something. I can't help but wonder if that spring is slowly eating away at the ground underneath?

Will it finally collapse into a huge sinkhole one of these days when I'm driving over it?


4 Comments:

At 9:14 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Look towards the east and at the top of the hill where you see the wet patch. There is an old Aeromotor windmill on top of a water tower which was run for years as the neighborhood water supply. Yup the road is always wet because the deposit is no longer being pumped out. More likely however to have a landslide from that wet layer than a sinkhole, especially since the soil is fully saturated. Nice to know someone but me always sees that wet patch!

 
At 9:55 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

It's called clay and a high water table. There are many streets in McKinleyville where water pours down street gutters for days after a rain with water bubbling up out of the sidewalk. But we can also thank over-development with little concern for water drainage. It's one of many reasons McKinleyville needs to incorporate, to get out from under the county's boot.

 
At 11:25 AM, Blogger Fred Mangels said...

There is an old Aeromotor windmill on top of a water tower which was run for years as the neighborhood water supply.

I know which one you mean. It has what looks like a carriage house beneath it. Never occurred to me that would be related to the water in the street.

There's a place I know of on the north end of Middlefield Lane(?)in Myrtletown that has some sort of spring beneath it. It was always sopping wet. Under inches of water in the winter and still wet in the summer. I realize we don't have a problem with water supply here, but I always wondered how much water you could pump out of the ground there? Maybe you could sell it and add it to Eureka's water supply?

Probably not worth the expense, though.

 
At 9:20 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Henchman Of Justice" says,

Anonymous#2, the water bubbling out of the street gutters, wuh?

In Summary: More like the guys and gals who constructed the subgrade drainage system of culverts, pipes, etc... did a shitty ass job in spots. Further, the design of D/A's was half-assed. Drive, walk or bike around town and see how many "ankle breaking" D/A covers exist that supposedly are to allow water but not debris into the subgrade drainage system under the sidewalks. All those branches, and twigs, and leaves, etc... builds-up and blocks the drainage system.

If it aint the water not draining, it is the underground utility lines that get purged because the "cable runners" could not bury their cables in a breachless conduit system. All around, shitty ass workmanship to steal private sector wealth for paychecks and profit while doing a half ass job.

Add the county public works department into the "mix of bad drainage" because that department has to "short change projects" as opposed to doing the job correctly. For years, the public works department has "half assed" drainage. One favorite way is to just dump the water onto peoples front and side yards, surface flows usually camoflaged by the surrounding ground cover. very sneaky and haneous behavior by public employees and officials who get paid better than the private sector to do such provocative projects. - HOJ

 

Post a Comment

<< Home