Cliffside Calaveras County Home Set To Fall Into Lake Tulloch
CALAVERAS COUNTY (CBS13) — A lakefront dream home is in danger of falling off a cliff in Calaveras County.
The county flagged the home unsafe after it was informed of the slippage two weeks ago. The new home is about to slip away from into Lake Tulloch.
The Tri-Dam Agency sent out its soil geologist to inspect the area but learned only one house was moving. The neighboring homes weren't sliding.
Jack Cox, the president of the Lake Tulloch Alliance, says no one needs to fear a Southern California-like landslide in this area.
"If you want to plant your yard with plants and flowers, you're going to need a jack hammer. It's rock," he said.
Neighbors believe the rock under their homes is solid.
The alliance spoke with local contractors who say the damaged home appears to have a problem with how it was built.
Calaveras County's chief building inspector Mike Renner says he can't completely rule out the land itself isn't moving. Cox agrees.
"It could very well be, in talking to other experts, an unintended consequence of the drought, because this land was so dry and we had so much rain," he said.
The alliance says most homes around the lake are on flatter land and not like the home on the cliff that looks destined to plunge into the waters below.
Renner says homeowners are paying for a survey of the land, and the results will be shared with the county.