Six weeks after Bellevue slide, evacuated residents finally return home

BELLEVUE, Wash. — The cleanup from a Bellevue landslide is finally nearly complete. There’s still a section of the Somerset cul-de-sac that is blocked off, but the road has been largely cleared of debris, enough for residents to get back to their homes on Friday after nearly six weeks away.

Five homes that were still red-tagged as of Friday morning have now been given the all-clear. For some families, it’s the end of a saga.

“Definitely we feel very relieved and happy to be able to go back, and we feel so much in debt to people who were able to help us,” said Ray Goh, a resident of the neighborhood. He and his family have been staying at a friend’s house for more than a month.

While residents have been able to park at the end of the block and walk to their homes to retrieve personal items, the house destroyed by the slide leaned onto the street.

Greg Schrader, the City of Bellevue’s building official, said he removed tags from the remaining homes around noon on Friday.

“It’s a better day than almost 6 weeks ago when this first happened,” Schrader said. “This did really take quick an extended time and it was an unusual circumstance,” he said.

A water main break on Jan. 17 flooded the neighborhood. Then a large section of the hillside gave way and slid into the home of John and Barb Surdi, pushing it off its foundation and destroying it.

The house leaning over the road is what made it too dangerous for residents past the Surdi’s home to return home.

“It’s been relatively stressful, really tiring,” said Kelsen Goh, a resident. Kelsen is a student at Newport High School.

Last Saturday on Feb 19, crews demolished the Surdis’ home. John and Barb were there to say goodbye and to salvage a few items.

“Pretty traumatic for us. Twenty-two years in that house, four children,” John Surdi said.

Now behind where their home once stood is a bare, steep hill.

“We definitely want to make sure the slope is stable going forward,” said Kelsen’s father, Roy Goh.

“After the majority of the vegetation got swept away, it’s much more prone to erosion,” said Kelsen Goh.

Residents are looking to understand what’s next.

“More answers, I think that would be the next step. For us to feel this won’t happen again,” said Don Thai, another resident who returned home on Friday.

The City of Bellevue says the hill is the private property of the private school on the hill. While initial inspections from a state geologist found no immediate risk of another slide, some residents are hoping for a more thorough assessment.

“Of course step slopes always have a certain degree of risk. I think the more likely concern is really just erosion control,” Schrader said. He said that work hasn’t started yet because an investigation into what triggered the water main break is ongoing. The results of that investigation may impact how involved the city will be in erosion control work.

Meanwhile, residents back home are counting their blessings.

“I do feel the most for the Surdi family. Today, they don’t get to come back to their home,” Thai said.

The Surdis’ said their home insurance has denied their claim and just the cost of demolition and cleanup could reach $600,000.

The City of Bellevue says the investigation into what caused the water main to break will take “months.”

©2022 Cox Media Group