A condemned home in the Northside collapsed today after the City ordered it to be evacuated last year due to a landslide. There were no injuries, and the remaining structure of the house will stay in place until it is deemed safe to demolish.

Photo by Leslee Schaffer

Last March, a GoFundMe campaign was created by Observatory Hill, Inc. to help the former residents of 45 Semicir St. in Observatory Hill, which was affected by a landslide, pay for a deposit and rent on an apartment. According to information obtained from that campaign, the evacuation was a result of the ground underneath the home shifting and destroying the basement. Today, the home collapsed.

In Pittsburgh, the Department of Permits, Licenses and Inspections (PLI) oversees homes and properties affected by landslides, while the Department of Mobility and Infrastructure (DOMI) oversees the roads affected by them. Inspectors from PLI are responding to the current situation. DOMI announced this week that engineers completed their assessment of the condition of the affected hillside and plans for retaining it will be completed in an estimated three months.

Meanwhile in Spring Hill, another Northside neighborhood that’s been heavily affected by recent landslides, construction is now underway on Diana Street to construct a retaining wall and fix a giant crack that formed in the street last February. The work will reportedly take about six months to complete.

Landslides have surged in Pittsburgh and other communities in Western Pennsylvania over the past 18 months due to record rainfall.