Veteran Fearful After Mysterious Cracks Form Around Folsom Home

FOLSOM (CBS13) — A woman said a 4-foot crack caved in on the side of her home and now she's worried about her family's safety.

"The cracks just started appearing as I was standing there," said Pearl Woods.

City experts have been out at the property twice now.

They said it could be a number of things including the wet winter and now scorching hot summer.

"I jumped back and the cracks kind of followed me," she said.

Woods was mowing her lawn when she says the ground beneath her separated.

"It was really scary at first; I thought it was a subwoofer driving by," she added.

It turns out it was the ground rumbling beneath her.

She then began to realize another crack stretched straight through the kitchen and all around from wall to wall.

So what's causing the ground to shift?

Steve Burger with the City of Folsom said it could be shrinkage from hot temperatures.

"You really can't tell what's going on until you drill into the soil. There's been speculation, this is there or that's there, but we don't know," Burger said.

But is it safe?

"We are looking at it, and from what we can see, everything looks OK now," he added.

Woods said "OK" isn't exactly comforting.

"There deeming it safe although no one is saying officially it's safe," she said.

Woods is an Iraqi War Veteran and works for the VA in Folsom. She moved here, especially for 10-year-old Zoey.

"My daughter is on the autism spectrum," she said.

Moving out of the area isn't an option.

"Right now leaving the district would be devastating for her," she added.

She's hoping to stay and likes where she lives, but doesn't want to slip through the cracks.

"If I need to move then I need somewhere to go, and I don't have that right now," she said.

Who's responsible? The city said likely the homeowner because it's on private property.

They plan to have a geoengineer further investigate what's causing the cracks to pop up.