PEMBROKE, N.Y. (WIVB) — The town of Pembroke and nearby quarry County Line Stone sent experts to investigate as the town dug up the road in front of the house that’s been cracking for more than a week now.
They’re still trying to figure out the cause.
It all started last Sunday when Gene Nati noticed cracks in the foundation of his house. Since then, more cracks have appeared both inside and outside and they still don’t know why.
“They’re kind of stumped for what’s going on right now,” Nati said.
Monday, geologists and other experts from both the Pembroke and County Line Stone investigated as the road was dug up.
Nati believes it has something to do with a fault line running from his property to the quarry and the amount of water they’re pumping.
“In the past two months they pumped out tens of millions gallons of water more this year in an alleged drought than they did last year in the same two month period,” Nati said.
Nati dug up the well in his front yard a couple of nights ago and didn’t find any water.
They also drilled in several spots around the property last week and they didn’t find water in those spots either
But since day one, the vice president of the quarry has said it’s not their fault.
He said monthly pumping is down in 2022 from the five-year average.
Data from the quarry shows water levels down in several wells this month.
Nati said he’s still waiting on the final amount of water pumped in the past month to see whether they slowed down after his house started cracking.
Experts are also looking into other possible causes.
“One the members said Canisius recorded an earthquake somewhere in the area, we were unable to confirm that. We’re gonna be working with the government agencies to confirm if there was or wasn’t an earthquake in the area.”
Nati said he thinks this is going to be a long, drawn-out process.
Insurance isn’t covering the damage, citing earth movement as ineligible for coverage in New York State.
Kayla Green is a reporter who has been part of the News 4 team since 2021. See more of her work here.
