Water Leak Causes Portion Of Grand Terrace Home To Slide Down Hillside

GRAND TERRACE (CBSLA.com) — Residents were evacuated from their  San Bernardino County home Tuesday morning after the structure began to slide down a hillside when a residential water line burst in the 22000 block of Vista Grand Way in the city of Grand Terrace, near Colton.

Homeowners Dr. Arthur Jimenez and Rosalinda Jimenez, who have lived at the residence for 15 years, were alerted to the situation by firefighters around 8a.m. Tuesday morning. They said they experienced a minor landslide years earlier, but nothing of this magnitude.

"I heard a big bang. A few minutes later a fire person came," said Dr. Jimenez. The residents were told to evacuate.

"He said you need to get out of the house because we don't know if it's going down or not," said Rosalinda Jimenez. "I was so scared about it."

"There was a water leak underneath the foundation of the back patio which created about a 40-foot wide gap about 10-feet underneath the patio causing the ground underneath the patio to collapse," Cpt. John Lansing said.

An inspection of the property also found cracks through out the walls of the house.

Part of the home's concrete wall came down as part of the patio gave way. It is unclear if the ground shifted causing the water line to burst, or if the water line break prompted the ground to move. Firefighters say they do not anticipate that the ground will shift further tonight. Officials said surrounding houses were not in danger.

The home has been red-tagged and a geologist and engineer will return on Wednesday to further investigate the cause of the incident and determine if the soil is stable enough to repair the damage.