A crane setting girders for a bridge in New Zealand toppled over as the temporary embankment it was sitting on gave way. [Source: The Landslide Blog. Image: Vertical.net]
New Zealand Crane Topples In Apparent Bearing Capacity Failure
Failures
Judge Rules City of San Diego Not Responsible for Mt. Soledad Landslide in 2007
The Mt. Soledad Landslide in a La Jolla California neighborhood destroyed 3 houses and damaged others and it also shut down Mt. Soledad Road for an entire year after it occurred in October of 2007. Residents blamed the city of San Diego, and 65 homeowners filed suit, claiming that leaking pipes caused the landslide and the City should cover damages.
Last week, a superior court judge ruled in favor of the City of San Diego. So far I have not seen anything indicating if the residents plan to appeal the ruling.
One interesting note regarding the trial, the City released an 8-minute cell phone video taken by a geotechnical engineer or drilling contractor employed by the City that showed the road cracking and buckling just prior to failure. The homeowners used the video to try to make their own case. Click through for a portion of the video and a link to the full one.
Failures
Crane topples over embankment after retaining wall fails
According to Silicon Valley’s MercuryNews.com, a [very lucky] worker suffered minor injuries when the crane he was opperating toppled down an embankment. The accident apparently occured on a CALTRANS project as the crane was lifting a 10,000-lb pile when a "wood retaining wall" gave way. It sounds like they were constructing a soldier pile lagging wall with steel h-pile soldiers and wood lagging. (Photo by Donna Jones/Sentinel)
Failures
Iowa asks FEMA to reconsider Lake Delhi decision, repair estimate $6M
Part of the dam collapsed in July during flooding by the Maquoketa River, draining a nine-mile lake. FEMA officials decided the dam wasn’t elligible for federal emergency funding because it is owned by a private […]