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Crews begin digging where road buckled in Southwest Detroit, cause still unknown

Investigation is ongoing

DETROIT – Nearly three weeks ago, the ground in Southwest Detroit heaved into the air. It buckled the road, destroyed buildings, and left residents with questions as to what caused it.

There still aren’t clear answers as to what caused the destruction. Bernard Juozapaitis lives near where the ground shifted and said he has noticed that large piles of iron and metal at the scrapyard in the area seem to have sunk.

“The pile was like this high and the next day it was this high. So it pushed down,” he said.

City of Detroit Chief Operating Officer Hakim Berry said the ground is soft. He is in charge of finding out the cause, cure, and where a ground shift might happen again.

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan pointed to weight on top of the soft ground. Heavy trucks run in the area nonstop and the metal at Fort, Iron and Metal is piled high.

Berry said they believe the business could be a victim of the soft ground as well. Not the cause.

“It’s a victim. You can build a building on soft ground, you just have to know you’re building on soft ground,” Berry said. “If I lived in this area I would watch and make sure that I don’t see any anomalies in my home.”

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About the Authors
Shawn Ley headshot

Local 4 Defender Shawn Ley is an Emmy award-winning journalist who has been with Local 4 News for more than a decade.

Kayla Clarke headshot

Kayla is a Web Producer for ClickOnDetroit. Before she joined the team in 2018 she worked at WILX in Lansing as a digital producer.

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