New video shows moment wall caves in at construction site in Ventura, swallows truck

VENTURA, Calif. (KABC) -- New video shows the moment a wall caved in at a Ventura construction site and swallowed three cars.

The hole is now threatening surrounding properties and forcing some neighbors out of their homes.

Ventura police got the call Thursday morning about a possible sinkhole opening up at a construction site just south of the Ventura Pier.

Ventura building and safety personnel arrived and determined it's not a sinkhole but a construction shoring failure.

The side walls near some commercial and residential buildings collapsed, swallowing three vehicles, including a pickup truck.

"It's a phenomenal thing. There's a lot of building going on in Ventura, and we never heard of anything like this before. That's an amazing amount of dirt colliding," Ventura resident Irene Steiner said.

"Something wasn't quite taken care of and look how tricky it is when you go digging in the ground," resident Ken Steiner added.

The city says an apartment complex is being built at the site.

Portions of a commercial property have been red-tagged as a precaution, according to the city of Ventura.

They also said that construction engineers are evaluating the situation to determine what appropriate repairs and potential temporary measures need to be done to prevent further damage.

"How are they going to recover from this? I really think it's going to impact all of the buildings around it, and that's unfortunate for those people. I know it's early, and they probably don't have a plan in place on how to rebound, but what's going to happen next? That's my question," Ventura resident Suzanne Rattigan said.