North Chattanooga brick facade and sidewalk threaten to collapse

CHATTANOOGA, Tennessee(WDEF) – Recent heavy rain is threatening the integrity of a large wall and sidewalk that share the same soil.

Managers at the Publix grocery store on Market Street were forced to block off a large section of the parking lot after recent heavy rains caused a 30 to 40-foot brick facade to shift outwards toward the lot.

"We did realize the wall seemed to be bowing outward. It is a brick wall but it is also a facade. It is not the actual structure that is holding up the wall," said Publix Media Relations Manager Brenda Reid.

According to Publix executives, steel beams are what’s holding the dirt wall in place behind the brick facade. But it’s unclear if the structure is equipped with weep holes behind the facade. Weep holes allow rain water to escape behind the brick.

"If you don’t have those, a lot of times the pressure from the water in the ground behind the wall is strong enough to push the wall down," said Chattanooga Public Works Administrator Lee Norris.

Unfortunately, massive stacks of bricks aren’t the only things threatening to collapse. A section of the sidewalk on Woodland Avenue that shares the same soil as the brick facade is also at rick of collapse or shifting toward the parking lot below.

"We got more rain scheduled and don’t know what the sub-surface condition are there. I mean that sidewalk could give way and slabs of it could come lose and people could trip.There’s a whole litany of things that could go wrong out there," Norris said.

City engineers have closed off that section of the sidewalk; especially since there is a threat of more rain to come.

"Two or three inches of rain doesn’t take much and it will start pushing up the soil. It will find a path of less resistance and that’s the way it will go; dirt and all," Norris said.

As for the brick facade overlooking the Publix parking lot, store executives told News 12 that company engineers will take a look at the wall to see what can be done to keep if from getting worse.