WA Government-commissioned landslide report recommends demolition of two Albany homes as blame game continues

A report tabled in State Parliament on Thursday has recommended the demolition of two homes in Albany and an investigation into the cause of the landslide which is threatening to destroy four neighbouring homes. The “preliminary geotechnical assessment”, commissioned by the State Government in October, lays out five short-term recommendations to enable mitigation and remediation works at the site of the slow-moving landslide in the Albany suburb of Mira Mar. The recommendations include demolishing two homes, boosting site security, undertaking a detailed aerial site survey, installing additional dewatering points and carrying out a detailed geotechnical investigation. Residents of six homes have been ordered to evacuate their properties as a result of the landslide and three of the worst affected homes on Sleeman Avenue have been deemed uninhabitable. Three homes on Anzac Road are at risk of being swamped by dirt as it is pushed downhill from Sleeman Avenue, but some of the residents are defying advice to leave and fighting to save their properties with daily digging. In State Parliament on Thursday, Regional Development Minister Alannah MacTiernan pledged a further $150,000 to carry out detailed geotechnical investigations and aerial site surveys in line with the report’s recommendation. “I have discussed with the City of Albany the need to exercise their power to order the demolition of the two properties expeditiously in the interest of public safety and so we can move towards a resolution on this matter,” she said. “The report reconfirms that the properties at Anzac Road are assessed as being at very high risk of damage and that the residents should vacate immediately. “The State will also continue to provide funding support for further dewatering activities at the site, as recommended in the report. “This is a difficult issue for residents, and this report has made it clear that there is no easy fix. “Even if a remediation solution can be found, it is possible that the situation will get worse before an improvement is realised.” On Friday, City of Albany chief executive Andrew Sharpe said the City was considering the recommendations of the report and “remains committed to working closely with the impacted residents and the State Government to determine a solution to this extremely complex situation”. Last week, an Anzac Road family launched a petition calling on Water Minister Dave Kelly and the Water Corporation to “take responsibility” for a burst water pipe on July 30, which they believe was the catalyst for the landslide. The petition on Monday had close to 1500 signatures supporting its calls for compensation for Sleeman Avenue homeowners and help for those on Anzac Road. Residents fear they will walk away with nothing as their homes cannot be insured for a landslide as it is considered a natural emergency. But Mr Kelly and Water Corporation maintain the landslide was caused by July’s “record rainfall” in an area prone to ground movement. Thursday’s report states residents at the Anzac Road properties are “at very high risk” and should leave their homes. But Anzac Road homeowners, Jane Kingston and Alan Smith, said they would stay and defend. Mrs Kingston said she was disappointed the report did not map out a clear path forward and she was now worried about being forced out of her home. “It’s all very emotionally draining. It is tough on my family as well. We came here to support them and now we find they are having to help us,” she said. “We get no insurance and no guarantee that if we get told to move out that they will protect our house so we have to keep fighting.” Mr Smith said the new geotechnical report did not provide any solutions. According to the report, until the two homes on Sleeman Avenue are demolished there is a “largely uncontrollable risk” which is preventing any safe remediation works or drainage from being carried out on the landslide. “It should be noted that excavating into a toe of a landslide has a significant risk of causing the landslide to accelerate,” the report said. A “detailed geotechnical investigation” is still needed to understand the root cause of the landslide and what mitigation work was needed to slow down the rate of movement. The report states “water infiltrating into the ground has likely been a major initiating mechanism to the recent phase of landsliding”. “This assessment, however, has not gone into enough detail to say whether the main initial triggering water source was infiltrating rainfall or a burst water main,” the report said. The report states the landslide was likely a larger “reactivation” of “landslide features” recorded in 2013 and ground movement was accelerated soon after rainfall but it did not “necessarily signify that rainfall is the primary initiation mechanism for the landslide”. “This is because once the landslide occurred, there would be numerous cracks, depressions and divots directing rainfall runoff directly into the body of the landslide, and understandably reactivating ground movement,” the report states. “Therefore, in its current condition almost any rainfall event large or small has the potential to reactivate movement.” The landslide had created “subsurface cavities and voids” which will “act as conduits for water” and “without deep remediation may migrate to the surface as sinkholes with time creating further hazards”, the report states.