A large crater has opened up on the grounds of a LAUSD school on April 12, 2016.
The crater measures about 75 feet by 45 feet. Regardless, class remained in session Tuesday at Linda Esperanza Marquez High School in Huntington Park, California.
The school, which opened in 2013, is built on the rubble of “a former toxic concrete mountain” known as “La Montaña.”
But according to officials, there is no known correlation between the current crater and the ground beneath the school.
Sinkhole or man-made?
News channels describe the collapse in the concrete as a sinkhole. In contrast school officials argue the crater is the result of an underground water retention and recharge system built during the school’s construction in 2012.
“La Montaña de la muerte” – “the mountain of death” – was a five-story high pile of concrete debris and crushed asphalt collected from freeways damaged by the 1994 Northridge earthquake.
The 600,000 ton pile of rubble, which stood so long that trees were growing from it caused major health problems for residents of Huntington Park.
For the ground to collapse or a sinkhole to form you need at least two things: a soluble or unstable soil and water. La Montaña is very labile and the underground water retention and recharge system brings in the needed humidity.
Both are thus probably responsible for the collapse of this basketball court in Huntington Park, LA!