Glassport Residents Dealing With Persistent Landslide Problems

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GLASSPORT (KDKA) -- The Mayor of Glassport issued a Declaration of Emergency earlier this month as the Borough copes with persistent landslide problems.

Now, in the past day or so, part of a Glassport hillside has taken on a brown and ugly appearance.

A mudslide has flowed down a steep hillside behind some homes on Second and Green Streets and Fern Alley. There's been no damage to properties or houses -- at least not yet.

"I haven't gone up to see where it started or anything because of the mud. I'm concerned it could give away while I'm up there looking around, and I don't want to be part of that," homeowner Gordan Carter said.

Amy Wadas' Report:

"I came home at 4 o'clock, and Linda, my neighbor, gave me a phone call and said, 'Come outside.' I came outside and came into this [mud]. I said - oh my God, not again," Joann Decolati, another local resident, said.

"We believe that there are mines that are causing this. They are old, abandoned mines, some collapsing, water filling up, then it having nowhere to go and going down over the hill," Glassport Mayor Keith DiMarco said.

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• Glassport Residents Advised To Evacuate As Road Crumbles Down Hillside
• Officials: Landslide Repairs Costing The City An Estimated $12 Million
• Additional Rain Heightens Landslide Concerns For Glassport Residents

After heavy rains earlier this year, another section of the same hillside shifted, causing city officials to alert about two dozen residents that their properties were in jeopardy.

Mayor DiMarco says while the U.S. Bureau of Mines has done some work to help alleviate the abandoned mine problem affecting sections of the hillside, right now, there's a need for more assistance.

"We would definitely like [the Bureau of Mines] to be proactive with the rest of it up there," DiMarco said. "Right now, we don't have any word from them claiming any responsibility for certain parts of that area."