A popping noise in March first alerted one Florida renter that all was not right at her Rialto Apartments building. Months after the building was evacuated and residents were displaced, an engineering firm determined the cause.
Here’s what to know
As WKMG News 6 detailed, approximately 200 families were awakened and ordered to leave their apartments in March. When Orange County Fire Rescue responded to a call from a resident who heard popping sounds, they found signs the building was unstable.
The resident was unable to open the front door, and firefighters had to pry it open to free her.
An engineering report from Simpson Gumpertz & Heger later found that a sinkhole had opened up underneath the building, causing it to slowly shift. The report was released in September, around five months after a foundation repair company laid grout to re-stabilize the building…