Engineers arrived late Friday to investigate the safety of an apartment building that seemed in danger of slipping into Lake Granbury.
Authorities evacuated 20 units in the Lakefront Apartments on Doyle Street Friday morning after a landslide between the lake and the three-story hilltop building.
“We don’t know what the full extent of the damage is yet and what the long-term viability of the structure will be,” said Assistant Granbury City Manager Sheri Campbell-Husband. “Until that can be determined, we wanted to be on the safe side and be sure everybody was safe.”
Police enforced the evacuation Friday but allowed residents back inside for brief visits to salvage a few belongings.
Randall Cheek was escorted to the lower unit on the corner of the building closest to the lake where his son-in-law lives.
“He said he could hear the walls creaking and he didn’t know exactly what happened until he looked out the back glass. And he was, of course, totally surprised,” Cheek said.
A large tree had collapsed and soil beneath that corner of the three-story building was gone when Cheek visited Friday afternoon.
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“I’m not going to jump up and down,” Cheek said.
Neighbor Natalie Adams and her husband live in the house overlooking the landslide just west of the apartments.
“We were sleeping and my husband went out at five and heard something that sounded like a loud maybe tree or something going in. But you couldn’t see anything at that point,” said Adams.
With daylight, they saw the landslide beside their home and they watched it grow during the day.
“I think for me the good news is nobody was hurt,” Adams said.
City officials alerted owners of several buildings along the lake that could have problems after massive rainfall in Granbury this week.
“What we’ve got is a lot of ground saturation as a result of all the rains that we’ve had,” Campbell-Husband said. “Mother nature, as we’ve seen this week, unfortunately, is going to do what it wants to do. And that’s why we’re trying to make sure all the necessary safety precautions are taken.”
The Red Cross assisted families in need of shelter Friday. Many displaced residents made temporary arrangements with friends or relatives.
Editor's note: In an earlier story we stated the apartments were located on the 800 block of Panama Court. We regret the error.
