Decin, North Bohemia, Feb 11 (CTK) – Two dozen people from two houses near the centre of Decin, a Czech town on the Labe (Elbe) River close to the German border, had to be evacuated because a massive sandstone rock threatened to slip due to water and frost, Decin Mayor Marie Blazkova has told CTK.
She said it was about 74 cubic metres of sandstone.
“There is a real threat that the rock may come down,” Blazkova said, referring to a result of regular check on the local sandstone hill by experts.
The sanation of the sandstone rock is to cost about one million crowns and last two weeks. The work started on Saturday. First, a fence of steel rope will be made, which would break the huge rock into pieces if it fell.
As Decin is situated in the Elbe Sandstone Mountains (Labske piskovce), it had to deal with problems with loose sandstone rocks repeatedly. In 2014, a 25-tonne boulder loosened, nearly hit one house and ended up in the garden of the local kindergarden. The whole area was thoroughly checked and secured afterwards.
