In the early hours of the 18th, a slope collapsed in Tai Shan Xi Cun, Tianyuan District, exposing building foundation pillars and damaging two cars. Fortunately, there were no casualties.

For safety reasons, 12 households have temporarily moved out. A responsible person from the relevant department stated that due to recent continuous rainy days, if residents notice bulging or deformation of slopes or walls, they should call the police promptly, and property owners should also take timely measures to eliminate safety hazards.

Scene

Collapsed slope pushed cars 3 meters away

On the morning of the 19th, the reporter saw at the scene that dozens of workers were repairing the slope. The collapsed slope was over 6 meters high and more than 10 meters long. Above it are Buildings 9 and 5 of Yuanyuan Community, and below are Buildings 10 and 6 of Tai Shan Xi Cun.

Between Buildings 9 and 5 of Yuanyuan Community, multiple cracks appeared near the slope, with obvious signs of subsidence. A flower bed between the two buildings had half collapsed. Looking up from below, the slope had a huge opening, the foundation pillars of Building 9 were exposed, and water was gushing from a sewer pipe in the middle of the slope. Two cars parked below the slope had severe front-end damage.

Ms. Liu, a resident on the 3rd floor of Building 10 in Tai Shan Xi Cun, recalled that at 1 a.m. on the 18th, she was watching TV at home when a loud "boom" suddenly came from outside, and the house shook. She rushed downstairs and saw that the slope had collapsed.

"I saw mud and concrete falling. I didn't dare approach. In less than a minute, the slope collapsed, large rocks fell, and mud mixed with stones pushed my neighbor's car and mine, parked below the slope, two or three meters away," Ms. Liu said. In that situation, she could only watch helplessly as her car was destroyed.

Accounts

Slope has been seeping water for years; residents fear another collapse

Some residents said they had long known the slope was dangerous, but no one had managed it. "Water keeps seeping down from above, and the entire ground is constantly waterlogged," one resident said.

A security guard from the Zhushui Renjia Property Management Company, which manages Yuanyuan Community, said that on the night of the incident, the property company called everyone out of their homes. Twelve households have temporarily moved out, but some residents have not. The property company had to post notices advising residents not to stay there for the time being.

The collapsed slope has been cordoned off with barriers, and the property company has arranged personnel to be on duty.

Nevertheless, nearby residents remain worried. "If it collapses again, the buildings above could come down, and the consequences would be unimaginable," said resident Mr. Huang.

Causes

Improper backfill and continuous rain led to slope collapse

Zeng Jing, director of the Municipal Construction Engineering Quality and Safety Supervision and Management Office, said that after receiving the notice on the 18th, staff immediately retrieved structural drawings of nearby buildings from the archives and inspected the site with geotechnical experts and the original design unit. They preliminarily concluded that since the building foundations on the slope are pile-column structures and no new cracks had appeared, the foundations are currently stable and no further collapse is expected for the time being.

Zeng Jing said that when the site was leveled, the slope had already been built, and the buildings were constructed later. In principle, building on slopes and hills requires design first and then construction, but the design and slope construction units can no longer be found.

Because the backfill was poorly compacted during the initial construction of the slope, the ground had been subsiding and cracking over time. The subsidence deformed the underground sewage pipes, causing misaligned joints and leaks. Sewage had been seeping into the backfill for a long time, exerting pressure on the slope and causing it to expand. Coupled with frequent heavy rains recently, this led to the slope collapse.

Currently, the Zhushui Renjia Property Management Company has arranged personnel to reinforce the slope and divert the sewage pipes at the slope. A design institute is redesigning the slope, and a preliminary repair plan is expected within a week.