MODESTO — The City of Modesto said it will work to fill in caves along the Tuolumne River that appear to have been repopulated by the homeless.
Neighbors have recently noticed activity down in the once-fully furnished caves again and called CBS13 to help get action from the city. We first uncovered the caves in January 2024.
“We begged the city earlier this year to come in and cover these up and as you can see, they just have a makeshift orange fence,” said Tracy Rojas, who lives in the area. “There were kids, pets, everything going back into the cave living.”
Our cameras spotted clothes hangers, groceries, a blanket and other evidence that showed the homeless appeared to be back to living there.
A day after CBS13 started asking questions again, the City of Modesto Park Rangers were out inspecting the caves. The city gave me this statement on the issue:
“Our Modesto Police Department team inspected the area and found an old, abandoned camp with no signs of current occupancy. Our Park Rangers regularly patrol the area and will continue to monitor it closely. If any additional concerns arise, we will promptly inspect the area and address them. Most of the originally reported caves collapsed over the course of the past winter and are no longer accessible. We are working with the appropriate agencies on the necessary procedures to complete the process to fill in the remaining open areas.”