Pandemic Pandemonium on some old cars

[idrjoe_sandiego]

Not far from me there is an auto repair shop that caters to older cars from the 40’s to the 70’s. Whenever I pass this place, it is always fun to see what’s sitting on the lot. Last week, I decided it was a good time to take advantage of the “no- traffic” pandemic situation and take one of my old cars for a spin. As I drove past the repair shop, I noticed something was amiss. Apparently there was a catastrophic land slide on the business just adjacent to the shop. The landslide collapsed one entire side of the repair shop’s lot, flattening a bunch of the old cars into automotive pancakes.

 

Two amazing things about this: (1) thankfully no one was injured and (2) not one word was mentioned about this on the local news.

 

If this happened three months ago, Fox News would have been all over this; but the story was not even on their radar!  They are too busy reporting about the end of the world if you don’t wear your face mask.

[1937hd45]

Somewhere in the USA or overseas? 

[Frank DuVal]

Looks like San Diego California. 

 

Wow! That's a lot of weight.

[wayne sheldon]

I don't think the retaining wall was adequately reinforced? Could have been really bad if that shopping mall's parking lot was full and people hanging around.

[padgett]

Definatly looks like California and to me that says there was a failure in the design of the retaining wall. Had much rain lately ?

[zepher]

There as been little to no rain for weeks here in So Cal.

It looks like there was no reinforcement for the retaining wall and there was no way it was going to hold up all that weight over time.

But I remember back in my college days many years ago during a general ed geology class that landslides can happen as the ground dries out almost as much as when the slope is actively taking on water.

[John_S_in_Penna]

8 hours ago, wayne sheldon said:

I don't think the retaining wall was adequately reinforced? ...

 

7 hours ago, zepher said:

It looks like there was no reinforcement for the retaining wall and there was no way it was going to hold up all that weight over time.

 

From an engineering perspective:

Reinforcing (steel bars within concrete or masonry) would not

be visible here.  There are many possible modes of failure (ways in

which it could have failed), and it appears to have failed in

overturning, since most of the wall itself looks intact;  or else in

a landslide, where the wall was okay but the soil itself behind

the wall was unstable.

 

A wall may have been properly designed, but overloaded,

such as by putting the weight of parking at the top which

was never intended.  An engineer designs for all possible

loads which could be reasonably expected to occur.

Possibly, someone put up the wall without any engineered design.

 

Other possible failure modes, not in evidence here, include

bending of the wall itself;  sliding horizontally;  and shearing

off its footing.

 

Edited May 19, 2020 by John_S_in_Penna (see edit history)

[8E45E]

7 hours ago, padgett said:

Definatly looks like California and to me that says there was a failure in the design of the retaining wall. Had much rain lately ?

In California?

 

Me thinks it was SIESMIC ACTIITY!!

 

Craig

[padgett]

Wouldn't know, you can't shake sand. We do have sinkholes that swallow Porches though.

[60FlatTop]

The upper building looks like a government design, possibly a postal distribution center. Parking lot and retaining wall required to be by the lowest bidder.

[Avanti Bill]

The value of those vehicles was never greater than the moment when that wall collapsed!

[zepher]

You can see the wall itself had some rebar since it is pretty much all intact.

But there is no evidence of proper drainage behind the wall or that the wall spreads out back into the slope at the bottom.

There was also clearly no anchors or rock bolts going into the slope through the wall to help hold it up.

If the wall had been build with the large, spread out footing going back into the slope there is very little probability that it would have sheered at the footing.

It appears to be just a regular block wall erected in front of a large cut slope with zero work done to prevent what eventually happen.

 

I'm not an engineer but in my 20's I did a lot of construction and bridge work so I saw what a lot of various structures are supposed to look like if done properly.

[Terry Bond]

Poor cars!  I wouldn't expect national news coverage though, unless there was an earthquake involved that did a lot more damage.  It was just a local retaining wall collapse, although to the guy whose cars got destroyed, it indeed was "catastrophic."  Through the eyes of those with more expertise in this kind of thing though, it does seem that wall wasn't properly engineered.  Somebody's gonna get sued!

Terry

[zepher]

The current owner of the property above may still hold some liability for the wall.

All depends on who actually owned the wall in question.

 

[8E45E]

5 hours ago, zepher said:

You can see the wall itself had some rebar since it is pretty much all intact.

But there is no evidence of proper drainage behind the wall or that the wall spreads out back into the slope at the bottom.

There was also clearly no anchors or rock bolts going into the slope through the wall to help hold it up.

If the wall had been build with the large, spread out footing going back into the slope there is very little probability that it would have sheered at the footing.

It appears to be just a regular block wall erected in front of a large cut slope with zero work done to prevent what eventually happen.

 

I'm not an engineer but in my 20's I did a lot of construction and bridge work so I saw what a lot of various structures are supposed to look like if done properly.

I guess it could have also been someone in a Tuner Car driving past with 20 Bazooka Tubes playing at full volume facing outside with the hatch open!!

 

Craig

Edited May 19, 2020 by 8E45E (see edit history)