Wednesday, May 3, 2023
What to know before its your Utah home sliding down the side of a mountain
Urban Living
Posted By Babs De Lay on May 3, 2023, 4:00 AM
It's been all over the news—two homes in Draper slid down the mountain. Like so many, I watched the news footage of the two homes breaking apart on a snowy evening, moving in slow motion down the ravine.
Luckily, no one was injured as Draper City officials had the owners move out a few months earlier and fenced off the properties from looky-loos. Why did this happen?
First, we've had a ton of snow. Alta broke records with over 900 inches (75 feet!) this past season, and big snow means lots of water. Once the soil gets rehydrated to its maximum capacity, it makes for loose ground.
In this case, the homes were built on fill dirt added to the South Mountain "bench"—Utah's term for foothills because, frankly, they look like benches, but they're remnants of the shoreline of ancient Lake Bonneville.
That ground is alluvial soil—which consists of earth and sand left from where the lake once was—and it's always a crap shoot when you build on a high slope on this kind of dirt. But Edge Builders insist they did everything right when they opted to put in a subdivision there. Draper City Mayor Troy Walker told the press that it seemed obvious proper construction procedures were not followed, and Draper City is now investigating how this disaster happened.
Second: If your home slides down a mountain and is just a bunch of sticks and sheetrock, do you have to keep paying the mortgage? You are indeed stuck with paying the mortgage, but you can hope insurance will cover your losses. However, if you didn't have flood or earthquake insurance, you might be totally screwed because regular homeowner policies don't cover this sort of disaster.
Maybe you live near a creek, river or reservoir that looks to be a candidate for flooding if the snow melt increases its speed, and you have decided to bite the bullet and get flood insurance through FEMA or a private insurance broker. Know that for most policies, there's a 30-day waiting period to be able to use the flood insurance, and a 10- to 30-day waiting period to use your earthquake insurance.
You may still have time to get insured! During the floods of the early '80s, our streams and rivers were manageable despite the heavy snow load until temperatures hit in the 90s on Memorial Day weekend. The snowmelt happened too fast. It was hard for water to stay in its banks, and we had to get all hands on deck to build sandbag walls along many major streets along the Wasatch Front.
About The Author
Babs De Lay
A full-time broker/owner of Urban Utah Homes and Estates, Babs De Lay serves on the Salt Lake City Historic Landmark Commission. A writer and golfer, you'll find them working as a staff guardian at the Temple at Burning Man each year.
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