EDMONDS – A resident was safely evacuated from a home near Lake Ballinger early the morning of Oct. 13 after a water main rupture caused soil to be washed out from under the house.
The incident, to which the Edmonds Fire Department responded at 1:30 a.m. on the Sunday morning, also washed out the home’s driveway at 23214 75th Place W. and sent mud across the street into the yard of another home. No damage was done to that home and no one was injured, but that home was evacuated anyway as a precaution, said city of Edmonds public works director Noel Miller.
The resident of the damaged home, an 85-year-old woman, moved out and is staying with her daughter, said Fire Chief Tom Tomberg. The home’s foundation is exposed, Miller said Oct. 14.
“It’s not safe to be in the house,” he said.
Fire crews turned off the water when they arrived on the scene. “We tried to divert the water but couldn’t,” Tomberg said.
City of Edmonds crews were still trying Oct. 14 to determine the cause of the rupture of the water main, which Miller estimated is about 20 years old. He said the city is “investigating who should pay what” in terms of determining responsibility for the breaking of the main. He said preliminary indications showed no responsibility for the event on the part of the homeowner.
Miller said there appeared to be “poor installation by the developer to begin with,” for which the city would have to assume responsibility.
City crews worked to fill in the washed-out area under the home, Miller said. He said the home appeared to be structurally sound and that any movement or further damage, barring an earthquake, was unlikely because of the dry weather.
Crews were also repairing the water main and cleaning the mud from the yard of the home across the street, Miller said.
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