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Car crushed as retaining wall collapses in Huntums Ghut

- no injuries reported
During heavy and persistent showers last night, a retaining wall came crashing down in Huntums Ghut, crushing a car that was parked alongside it. Photo: Team of Reporters
HUNTUMS GHUT, Tortola, VI- During heavy and persistent showers last night, a retaining wall came crashing down in Huntums Ghut, crushing a car that was parked alongside it.

According to reports reaching our newsroom, the discovery was made this morning, October 14, 2021.

Luckily, no one was in the car at the time.

The rains overnight also caused many rock slides and flooding in low-lying areas across Tortola.

13 Responses to “Car crushed as retaining wall collapses in Huntums Ghut”

  • Reinhart (14/10/2021, 09:23) Like (18) Dislike (0) Reply
    Gravity and backfill are important to consider after civil design. rule 1: If the wall is 6 feet high the footing needs to be 4'-9" wide. The higher the wall the wider the footing.
    • guy hill (16/10/2021, 06:47) Like (1) Dislike (0) Reply
      @Reinhart.. should be common knowledge but cutting corners gets just results. Sad. Hope the owner get it fixed right.
    • E. Leonard (16/10/2021, 14:41) Like (2) Dislike (0) Reply
      Tortola is typically hilly terrain and retaining walls are common place for many construction projects. For effectiveness, they must be properly designed( I will leave design criteria to the local licensed civil engineers etc), constructed, inspected, and maintained. They must be designed against lateral soil pressure, hydrostatic pressure (water pressure, effective drainage is critical) etc. Sliding, overturning, eroding etc are potential failures of retaining walls. Further, on some projects a ‘Deadman tie back system’ may be useful.

      Moreover, run-on and run-off on and from land, and change of in-situ state of soil need attention. Mitigation programme for trees and vegetation may be also needed.
  • Hmmm. (14/10/2021, 09:35) Like (15) Dislike (3) Reply
    That house was close to disaster...No one build a retaining wall strIght or plum...It has to be on a 80 degree angle leaning in to the Soil... With 5/8 steel atlease 24 to 30 inches foundation base on the soil For for a wall below 9ft...For a wall above 9ft it has to be on a 70 degree angle towards the soil with a foundation depth of 30 to 36 inches depends on the soil.. .Thank God it wasnt worst and no one got injured.
  • one eye (14/10/2021, 09:50) Like (7) Dislike (0) Reply
    Oh my this is ruff
  • Me (14/10/2021, 10:11) Like (29) Dislike (0) Reply
    I'm not seeing steel nor columns in the remnants of that retaining wall. This sort of haphazard kind of construction has been going on for years
  • Slipknot (14/10/2021, 10:15) Like (10) Dislike (0) Reply
    Luckily, no one was in the car at the time.
    Fortunately no one was walking there also
  • big show (14/10/2021, 10:21) Like (17) Dislike (8) Reply
    That’s not a retaining wall it’s retaining block like the Elmore Stoutt High School
  • taxpayer (14/10/2021, 10:54) Like (15) Dislike (1) Reply
    I hope whoever built that thing doesn't expect it to be rebuilt at taxpayer expense!
  • Guest (14/10/2021, 14:26) Like (7) Dislike (0) Reply
    The house seems like it will collapsed
  • Open Eyes (14/10/2021, 18:38) Like (7) Dislike (0) Reply
    A landslide in the Slaney\Duff Bottom area should open the eyes of the relevant agencies to the fact that those outcropping cliffs need to be properly graded. It's only a matter of time before more of them come down. We are playing Russian Roulette with our lives.
  • Science (14/10/2021, 21:27) Like (2) Dislike (0) Reply
    Hydrostatic pressure ! Goggle and Understand
  • French Drains (14/10/2021, 21:37) Like (1) Dislike (0) Reply
    No matter how strong the foundation or the structure of the wall if you allow super saturated soil on a steep incline behind the structure it will invariably fail, Drain water away before hydrostatic pressure is created, a French drain !


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