Heavy Rain Causes Devastation in Baltimore, Md.

With an investigation still ongoing, the city of Baltimore has still not set a date to rebuild a portion of a nearly 120 year old retaining wall that dramatically collapsed due to heavy rain on April

Tue May 20, 2014 - Northeast Edition
Irwin Rapoport

With an investigation still ongoing, the city of Baltimore has still not set a date to rebuild a portion of a nearly 120 year old retaining wall that dramatically collapsed due to heavy rain on April 30 before the eyes of residents who live on East 26th Street in the city’s Charles Village neighborhood.

The retaining wall collapsed around 4 p.m. as residents gathered on the street to examine the portion of the road that had partially collapsed with several parked cars being trapped.

Baltimore residents are awaiting the results of ground penetrating radar (GPR) tests that were conducted following the landslide to better understand the extent of the damage.

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake (via The Baltimore Sun) said on May 7 that “we are in [the] process of gathering information so that [we] can inform the public about all of the actions that my administration took before the collapse as well as provide a thorough assessment of the structural integrity of the area both currently and leading up to the collapse.”

The Baltimore Sun reported that, “Geologists said the Charles Village event should likely not be considered a sinkhole. Sinkholes are natural phenomena that occur when the Earth’s surface collapses on top of spaces where rocks have eroded away.”

The collapse is important, especially in the northeast, where such infrastructure can be found in many areas, as this is where the country’s first rail networks were developed hand-in-hand with industrial and residential development. As has been pointed out in many articles, the decay of aging infrastructure is more then just roads, bridges, and pipes and sewers.

Irwin Rapoport

A journalist who started his career at a weekly community newspaper, Irwin Rapoport has written about construction and architecture for more than 15 years, as well as a variety of other subjects, such as recycling, environmental issues, business supply chains, property development, pulp and paper, agriculture, solar power and energy, and education. Getting the story right and illustrating the hard work and professionalism that goes into completing road, bridge, and building projects is important to him. A key element of his construction articles is to provide readers with an opportunity to see how general contractors and departments of transportation complete their projects and address challenges so that lessons learned can be shared with a wider audience.

Rapoport has a BA in History and a Minor in Political Science from Concordia University. His hobbies include hiking, birding, cycling, reading, going to concerts and plays, hanging out with friends and family, and architecture. He is keen to one day write an MA thesis on military and economic planning by the Great Powers prior to the start of the First World War.

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