Sara’s Homes




San Antonio Homes Evacuated as Ground Shifts

Some residents of a Northwest Side neighborhood awoke early Sunday to strange creaking noises.

Eugene Dumais noticed a large crack in the side of his house as he was leaving for church around 9:45 a.m. When he returned, a 10-foot-wide section of retaining wall had slid away. Elsewhere in the 80-home Rivermist subdivision, soil gave way and left crevices up to 15 feet deep and eight feet wide.

[SOILSLIDE] Associated Press

Crevices, some 15 feet deep, are shown outside three homes at the Rivermist subdivision in San Antonio on Monday.

"It's bad, and it has gotten a lot worse," Mr. Dumais said. He was among dozens of homeowners evacuated over the weekend from the neighborhood—a freshly built enclave where home prices range from $170,000 to $250,000.

Centex Homes, a unit of Pulte Homes Inc., told about 250 residents who crowded into a hastily called meeting at a local hotel Monday evening that it had yet to determine what caused the mishap, though it said the soil weakness occurred in a relatively isolated area. An executive said the company planned to start "forensic" work Tuesday, a process expected to take a couple of days.

Residents of more than 60 of the 80 homes vacated under a mandatory evacuation order by the city have been told they can return. Still, many at Monday night's meeting weren't anxious to return without a better explanation from Centex.

Jeff Davis, an attorney who had been asked to attend the event by one of the homeowners, said a better explanation of the problem was needed, both to reassure homeowners and to protect their investments.

"The biggest concern is marketability and safety," Mr. Davis said. "Why would someone buy a house that is in the pathway of damage, and may continue to be?"

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