Saturday, May 02, 2009

Mother Nature Forces Family From Home Of 30+ Years As Slow-Moving Landslide Victimizes Over A Dozen Others; Lender Left Holding Worthless Mortgage

In North Salt Lake, Utah, KSL-TV Channel 5 reports:
  • A slow-moving landslide has been described as a nightmare that has lasted more than 10 years, and it is finally forcing a North Salt Lake family to move from their longtime home. The floor and the walls are cracking, paint is bubbling and beams are breaking in Dauneen Abel's house. She and her family have watched their home, their investment, fall apart piece by piece.

  • "It's like the house is being squeezed together, because everything is coming up in the middle," Abel said. Her home on Springhill Drive and more than a dozen others in North Salt Lake are victims of a slow-moving landslide. After battles with the city and the state, there was nothing more Abel could do but go into foreclosure.

  • "I don't mind leaving the house. I'm going to have a hard time leaving my friends," she said. She's lived in the home for more than 30 years and raised all four children there, but activity in the past few months has made her realize it's time to go. [...] State geologists estimate the ground in this area is now moving at a rate of 2 inches a week, almost 9 feet a year.

For more, see Landslide forces couple to give up on home.