Saturated Ground Moving, 3 Homes Evacuated And Condemned In Fallowfield Twp.
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FALLOWFIELD TOWNSHIP (KDKA) -- Three families have been evacuated from their homes in Washington County as the structures continue to slide due to the shifting ground beneath.
The 500 block of Woodward Avenue in Fallowfield Township is located on an unstable hillside, and the condemned houses sustained structural damage when the land beneath them shifted.
Tracey Cash told KDKA-TV News, "I live across the street from all three of them, and we don't have any solid answers yet as to what is causing this to happen."
Neighbors say they've been told it's not mine subsidence; and, more than likely, the recent record rainfall contributed to the ground shifting.
An alley below the evacuated homes, which is slowly sinking, has been closed for more than a year.
Jeff Nicholson lives in the neighborhood. He's been taking pictures, documenting what has been happening across the street from his house.
Nicholson says there's a lot of finger pointing going on.
"It just feels like everybody is blaming each other," he said. "Woodward Avenue is like the forgotten street, cause we're right on the township line, Fallowfield and North Charleroi Borough, and it seems like they are both claiming each other. Then, there's the gas company and the water company."
Another next door neighbor Cathy Seighman has lived on Woodward Avenue for nearly three decades.
"Is it going to happen to our house next? Are we going to be forced out? Nobody is giving us any answers, nobody will tell us anything," said Seighman. "Is it just localized over there, or is it going to take our house."
