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Mar 9, 2008 7:16 am US/Eastern
Heavy Rains Force Lodi Families To Evacuate Again
LODI, N.J. (CBS) ―
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Five Lodi families were forced to evacuate because officials fear an old retaining wall may not hold if there is too much rain.
CBS
It's going to be another unnerving weekend for families in Lodi. So far five families have been forced to evacuate their homes over fears a retaining wall could collapse.
John Pilger is still making repairs after the Nor'easter last year destroyed his home. He still remembers the night it happened.
"It was around 11:30 at night and I was sleeping," said Pilger. "The next thing the house started to shake like an earthquake."
The rain caused a mudslide to slam directly into the back of his house. Pilger is hoping the new retaining wall that went up behind his house holds this time around.
"We are just keeping our eyes open and our ears open for any kind of noise and just have stuff ready to evacuate if we have to evacuate."
Now his neighbors, who still have old retaining walls are facing what he faced last year. On Friday, five families were forced to evacuate because borough officials fear the old retaining wall may not hold if there is too much rain.
"Cops were here yesterday and put up all ribbons telling them to get out," Louis Nicastro told CBS 2 HD.
The people in another house got the order to vacate Friday, but they have actually been out since April 2007. Neighbors say they haven't lived here for almost a year due to the fact the house has been considered unsafe.
Isa Dere was among the five families who had to evacuate. He came home just to pick up medication.
"They came yesterday and told everyone to leave because it might collapse," said Dere. "It's been going [for] on many years this problem. As far as I know no one wants to take the responsibility."
How much rain the area gets will determine how long residents will be out and what happens next in terms of fixing the problem for the future.
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