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Casualty of rain? Fractured Northshore Publix wall called a cosmetic problem

Steps leading to the Publix parking lot are closed as the huge retaining wall to the east is suspected of moving as a result of recent heavy rains. Yellow caution tape blocks the sidewalk and sand bags have been placed in the roadway along Woodland and Hamilton Avenues. Steps leading to the Publix parking lot are closed as the huge retaining wall to the east is suspected of moving as a result of recent heavy rains. Yellow caution tape blocks the sidewalk and sand bags have been placed in the roadway along Woodland and Hamilton Avenues.

By Staff Report December 30, 2015 3 min read

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Fractured wall at Publix called cosmetic problem

Yellow caution tape blocks the sidewalk and sand bags have been placed in the roadway along Woodland and Hamilton Avenues. The retaining wall on the east side of the Publix parking lot is suspected of moving as a result of recent heavy rains.

The east side of the Publix parking lot is closed as the retaining wall, left, is suspected of moving as a result of recent heavy rains. Yellow caution tape blocks the sidewalk and sand bags have been placed in the roadway along Woodland and Hamilton Avenues.

The retaining wall on the east side of the Publix parking lot is suspected of moving as a result of recent heavy rains. Yellow caution tape blocks the sidewalk and sand bags have been placed in the roadway along Woodland and Hamilton Avenues.

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Shoppers making their grocery run to the Northshore Publix will be greeted by an unsettling sight: a split directly up the middle of a 25-foot retaining wall encircling the store’s parking lot.

After record rainfall in Chattanooga, several of the stone blocks have separated along a seam, leaving some of the large stones perched precariously over a now-vacant portion of the lot. Publix employees used upended shopping carts to hold up a temporary plastic fence and cordon off a couple dozen parking spaces immediately next to the damage.

But according to employees, customers have little to fear because a steel barrier is hidden behind the stone wall.

Brenda Reid, a spokeswoman for Publix, said the visible damage is primarily cosmetic rather than structural and that there is no time frame laid out for completing repairs.