CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — After several days of wet weather, the Chattanooga Fire Department's Special Operations Division is monitoring an "unstable" embankment on Signal Mountain Road after heavy rain caused a mudslide.
EPB crews were called to Edmonds Properties Thursday morning to restore power to residents in the mobile home park. That crew noted problematic areas on the ridge behind the park and contacted the fire department.
Residents in Edmonds Properties could have to evacuate their homes in 20 days due to an unstable embankment causing a mudslide to threaten their homes.
"It [20 days] gives us a chance to get our things and find a place to live because we didn't know what to do if we had to get out that day," said Damien Langford, a resident.
A tree removal project is underway after the heavy rain caused a tree to fall, causing power outage.
Park management told WRCB with instruction from the City of Chattanooga’s Land Development Office, they took things into their own hands and hired veteran-owned company Alpine Roots Tree Service.
"We're just removing anything that could potentially shift or fall in strong winds or weather that could damage either the lines or the trailer park there," said Logan Mills, the owner of Alpine Roots Tree Service.
WRCB asked the tree service if there's anything that could have been done historically or structurally to avoid the damage.
"When a bunch of rain's come i mean it just depends on the slope grade and a bunch of different variables that come into play so it's hard to say anything could have been done to prevent this in the past," Mills responded.
Mills said when tackling a project on a slope like this one, there are several factors that come into play.
“It's unstable ground up there. We're climbing up and we're putting extra weight leaning towards that area so we're really just having to watch the base of the tree and if it's breathing or not and just all the vines and overgrowth up there we're trying to mitigate that because that deters the way that the trees fall when we're up there," Mills continued.
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Mills said his company's goal is to leave the land as high as possible so that there's still a root system in place.
"It's kind of a double edge sword because you want the trees there to hold the ground in but then you don't want them too close to the trailer park and fall or maybe hurt or injure somebody," Mills said.
The mobile home park manager told WRCB he plans to have the land development office come back out to inspect once the project is complete.
This property is across the street from where a mudslide happened almost exactly a year ago crushing a Subway restaurant.