Landslides have been a problem around Cincinnati for years. Aaron Habig with the Hamilton County Conservation District says heavy rains expected this week could mean trouble for hilltop structures.
The reason dates back tens of thousands of years ago, when the region was covered by glaciers. The Ohio Valley is about as far south as those glaciers stretched.
Habig says local soil is made up of glacial deposits on top of shale. “As shale breaks down, it turns into a product called colluvium, which unfortunately is prone to slippage when it gets saturated,” he says. “Generally, in the Cincinnati area, when we get saturated soils — late winter, early spring — that’s when we tend to see most of the landslides that we have.”…