Serious mudside problems in Snohomish County, Washington State -house carried away

[malaise]

http://www.theguardian.com/world/feedarticle/11258593
<snip>
The Washington State Patrol says a house with people inside was carried across a road in rural Snohomish County just before 11 a.m. Saturday.

The Washington Department of Transportation says mud, trees and building materials are blocking both directions of State Route 530 near the town of Oso.

Search and rescue operations are underway by Snohomish County crews and the Washington State Patrol.

Spokesman Bart Treece of the Washington State Department of Transportation says he doesn't know how long the two-lane rural road will be closed. He says drivers are advised to find another way to get between Darrington and Arlington.
--------------------
Stay safe DUers

[pscot]

1. Live by the clearcut

Die by the clearcut.

[Aerows]

2. You do realize that people just lost everything they had, right?

It's fine to criticize people who clearcut, but you don't even know if these folks were guilty of doing it.

It's like condemning people that live along the coast because "they knew a hurricane could strike there".

[malaise]

6. My thought precisely

Unbelievable

[Aerows]

8. Children are no doubt affected by this, too

I guess that person would like to blame them because they weren't protesting clear cutting because they don't know how to tie on their comfortable shoes, yet.

It shocks me sometimes how knee jerk, callous some people can be.

[malaise]

9. They're not even sure if people are missing

or injured. I don't get it sis.

[pscot]

12. I'm sorry for the people whose homes were lost

but putting a cheap housing development in narrow river valley surrounded be steep clearcuts borders on criminal negligence. It's common for logging roads to blow out, resulting in a slide.

[malaise]

13. So where are the regulators?

Still that was insensitive

[Aerows]

15. I want to know exactly where in the world

a person can live that they *couldn't* be affected by a natural disaster? No tornadoes, no forest fires, no floods, no hurricanes, no earthquakes, hell, no volcanic eruptions or a war breaking out.

I'm truly curious about this location, unless it is in a bunker 350 ft in the ground or something.

[pscot]

21. My function in life

is to provide a certain kind of individual with the moral high ground from which to glare downupon us benighted persons who live 350 feet underground and simply can't measure up to their lofty standards. Such folks are just better than I am and I do so admire them for that.

[Ex Lurker]

23. Central Canada, if you don't mind the cold

Geologically and politically stable, no hurricanes. Tornadoes are not unheard of, but are rare. I guess forest/prairie fires are a possibility, but the risk can be managed with a little planning.

[Aerows]

24. You never have blizzards?

That qualifies as a natural disaster in my mind, but I am not exactly an expert on snow...

[Aerows]

14. Do tell -

which entirely, absolutely safe area of the world do you live in where a natural disaster couldn't possibly occur?

[JJChambers]

33. Mudslides resulting from human clearcutting aren't "natural" disasters

[Aerows]

34. Building a house anywhere isn't "natural"

If it was "natural", there would be home shaped trees, bathroom shaped stone croppings, and bedroom shaped caves.

[countryjake]

35. Aerows, many of those homes who are now buried by that mud...

were more than a hundred years old. The area was once a tiny fishing village, totally rural, and the clearcutting came after the folks had settled there. You know, it's hard to find a hill or mountain up here that hasn't been a victim of the intensive logging that was done for decades, beginning at the turn of the last century.

[Aerows]

36. Can't argue with that

I live in an area that was ravaged by a hurricane, so it tends to hit a sensitive spot when people imply that people living in their own homes are to blame because they live there.

[countryjake]

38. Well, I don't know that pscot was actually putting blame on the victims...

he may be from this area, for all I know, and that is what a whole lot of people are saying up here, after learning of the mudslide. My man was in the industry when he was young, a shake rat working the mills, and his first comment after we heard about the Oso tragedy was exactly the same as the first reply to this thread. He used to work at an Oso mill and the mass logging was unreal along Rt 530 during the sixties and seventies.

It's a common saying in this region, especially by those who are opposed to the stripping and raping of our forest lands, the baring of mountainsides, exposing the hills to the erosion that follows.

[Aerows]

40. I'm not from there

and I apologize if I was harsh in my statements. I got a ration of shit when Katrina hit our area from people that declared we shouldn't live on the coast because we might get hit with hurricanes. That's where my mind went.

Just a misunderstanding, I think, instead of the ill-wishing I experienced in the aftermath of a disaster.

[countryjake]

41. No worries. We get the same up here in the Cascades, too.

I couldn't begin to tell you how many of my old friends from Ohio think that I am suicidal or something, simply because I live in the shadow of a volcano.

[Aerows]

42. As we say in the South

You are good people, Jake

[B2G]

37. Is this 'cheap housing' resulting in clearcut?

I don't think so.

[AgingAmerican]

73. I live in Seattle and we have slides here

Every year. I live inside a greenbelt on the side of a steep hill. This could easily happen to my house. Sometimes water seeps into the hillside and gathers in pockets in the glacial clay. When it rains too much and too much water builds up, this happens. It happens all over this side of the state and it is hard to predict when it will happen, and it happens for various reasons depending on the natural landscape. Sometimes it happens from man screwing with things and sometimes it happens naturally.

I know there is plenty of water in my hillside because my lawn is always green regardless of how long we go without rain.

[malaise]

3. What is that supposed to mean - fifteen homes may have been destroyed here

http://blogs.seattletimes.com/today/2014/03/mudslide-carries-at-least-one-house-onto-snohomish-county-highway/
<snip>

Cascade Valley Hospital in Arlington has been alerted at least 15 homes may have been wiped out in the slide. No injuries have been reported to the hospital at this time, but officials are encouraging people to bring blankets, clothing and food to the hosipital to be ready.

A mudslide, carrying at least one house with people inside, is blocking Highway 530 near Oso, in Snohomish County.

According to State Trooper Mark Francis at least one house is in the slide, which occurred mid-morning, and someone was calling for help.

The trooper said more people may be trapped, and search and rescue crews are headed there.

[pnwmom]

30. Where was the clear cut? There were second growth trees on unstable soil.

http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20140323/NEWS01/140329507/Local-geology-recent-heavy-rains-likely-factors-in-Oso-mudslide-

Glaciers deposited sediments in the river valleys, and when the ice melted, the rivers carved out new beds in the sediments, which are a loose mixture of sand, gravel and stones called glacial till.

The result was geography that is less stable and more prone to slides.

Soil composition is just one factor in determining how slide-prone an area is. Also important are recent precipitation and the amount of human activity in the area, including logging, which often removes support for the already loose soils.

Doug Lenker, a logger from Darrington who knows the area well, said the hill that slid away probably had not been logged for a number of years, since there were some second-growth trees on the slopes.

"Any active logging was way further out to the west," he said. "There were no new roads or anything."

[pscot]

39. You're right

I was wrong.

[Aerows]

69. As was I for fighting with you about it

You are a good person, pscot. I just hope all the folks involved are found okay.

[rustydog]

62. fourteen dead so far, 108 at least unaccounted for

and you have this snarky response?
If you saw the photos, that wasn't clear cut, that was the remnant of the mudslide that took trees and shrubs into homes killing 14 so far.

[countryjake]

63. He made that comment less than three hrs after it happened...

on Saturday. Even our local media wasn't taking this mudslide very seriously at that time, people up here were scrambling to get any bit of information, at all. Western Washington has mudslides all of the time thru the winter months and after any heavy rainfall.

Now, these few days afterward, it probably does look pretty crass, but it's also what many locals here often say, who have to live amongst butchered mountainsides.

[pscot]

66. I said I was wrong

but some guys can't resist the cheap shot.

[Aerows]

70. That was a cheap shot

You already did your part, now it is time for them to be a lesser douchebag. I did, upthread.

[countryjake]

4. I cannot even believe that the Guardian is the one reporting this!

http://www.komonews.com/news/local/Massive-mudslide-blocks-road-destroys-home-near--251711901.html

[malaise]

7. Seattle Times has a report as well

The Guardian even had he same photo

http://blogs.seattletimes.com/today/2014/03/mudslide-carries-at-least-one-house-onto-snohomish-county-highway/

[countryjake]

10. This is up in my neck of the woods...

We're about 35 miles north of that mudslide. I heard about it on the radio, coming home a while ago.

I'm just stunned at some of the things that newspaper manages to report.

[malaise]

11. Tell us more

Glad you and yours are OK.

[countryjake]

16. All I've heard is that it has dammed the Stilly, slide is more than a mile long.

The breaking news that I heard on the radio said that they were afraid that someone may have been pushed into the Stillaguamish River (with the mud, houses, and trees), but that was a couple of hours ago and nothing new has been reported since then.

We have mudslides up here all the time, but this was a big one.

[Aerows]

5. Sad :(

I feel bad for those that lost everything they have and were inside of the house, too. I hope there aren't too many injuries.

[countryjake]

17. The death toll keeps going up, hospitalized victims listed as critical & serious...

3 dead in massive SR 530 landslide near Oso

http://www.komonews.com/news/local/Massive-mudslide-blocks-road-destroys-home-near--251711901.html

OSO, Wash. - Three people were killed and at least eight others were injured following a massive mudslide that took out at least six homes near Oso Saturday morning.

Overall, five adults and a six-month-old infant have been taken to local hospitals but their conditions are not known.
Search-and-rescue operations are under way by Snohomish County crews and the Washington State Patrol to scan the rest of the slide area for victims...

As of 1 p.m., officials were moving rescuers back from the scene, citing concerns of the North Fork Stilliguamish River rising because of the mudslide...

The National Weather Service issued a Flood Warning for the area after a river gauge downstream from the slide measured more than a 2-foot drop in water level an hour after the slide, confirming some of the river is being blocked by the slide.

The agency warns the river will likely flood low-lying areas including roads and possibly some homes. And there is concern when and if the landslide-induced blockage releases, some flooding will be possible downstream in Arlington...

[malaise]

18. Just saw coverage

a six month old baby is among the injured.

[countryjake]

19. What are you watching it on? No news up here, at all.

They just now updated that KOMO News4 article at 3 pm, telling about the deaths, but we're not getting anything on the television. Is it online somewhere?

[malaise]

20. ABC World News n/t

[malaise]

22. Check this photo

Part of a hillside missing after it gave way and became a deadly landslide north of Seattle, Washington state. Photograph: Marcus Yam/AP
<snip>
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/23/deadly-landslide-in-washington-state
<snip>
At least three people have been killed following a landslide in rural Washington state that injured at least eight others and destroyed six houses.

The slide of dirt, trees, rocks and other debris – at least 135 feet (41 metres) wide and 180 feet deep – hit just before 11am on Saturday, authorities said.

The injured included a six-month-old boy who was in a critical condition at Harborview medical centre in Seattle.

Two other victims were in a critical condition – an 81-year-old man and a 58-year-old man – while a 37-year-old man was in serious condition.

[countryjake]

25. Thanks for that! It's all over our news now, today.

An aerial view shows a huge volume of earth missing from the side of a hill facing Stillaguamish River after a landslide along Highway 530, between the cities of Arlington and Darrington. (Photo by Marcus Yam / The Seattle Times)

18 people unaccounted for in slide; voices heard, then gone

http://blogs.seattletimes.com/today/2014/03/18-people-unaccounted-for-in-area-hit-by-slide/

ARLINGTON – Rescuers say at least 18 people are missing in a massive mudslide that demolished two neighborhoods along the north fork of the Stillaguamish River and that the potential for a catastrophic flash flood remains high.

Three people were killed and at least eight others injured when a rain-soaked hillside above state Highway 530 near Oso gave way Saturday morning. Travis Hots, chief of Snohomish County Fire districts 21 and 22, said a square-mile of mud and debris slid across the road, blocked the river and demolished or damaged up to 30 homes...

“We suspect there are people out there but it is far too dangerous to get the responders out to them,” Hots said during a media briefing outside the incident command center in Arlington.

Hots described an incredibly dangerous situation for the more than 100 rescuers who are trying to access buried structures and debris. The mud is still moving and has the consistency of quicksand. He said the scene overnight was eerie with the sounds of breaking timber and moving debris in the dark.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee has proclaimed a state of emergency.

Inslee: At least 7 people rescued in Washington mudslide

http://www.komonews.com/news/local/Washington-slide-kills-3-searchers-seek-survivors-251780401.html

...Authorities were also trying to determine how to get responders on the ground safely, Hots said, likening the mudflow to quicksand...

Officials described the mudslide as "a big wall of mud and debris" that blocked about one mile of State Route 530 near the town of Oso, about 55 miles north of Seattle. It was reported about 60 feet deep in some areas...

The mud was so thick and deep that searchers turned back late Saturday after attempting to reach an area where voices were heard crying for help...

The slide blocked the North Fork of the Stillaguamish River. With the water rising rapidly behind the debris, authorities worried about severe downstream flooding and issued an evacuation notice Saturday...

John Pennington, director of Snohomish County Emergency Management Department, said they were dealing with "a disaster within a disaster" - both the mudslide and the potential for a flash flood. He said there were concerns that the water could break downstream, as well as back up and flood areas upstream...

At least it's clear out today, sun is shining, so they don't have to deal with even more rain. At every press conference, I feel so bad for the search and rescue people...it's sounds like they're almost helpless to get in there to do anything...that slide went right thru and across the river, so the whole area is a moving mass of mud and debris. The evacuation area is huge, some have been let back in this morning, but everyone downriver from the slide is being told to take extra precaution while home and leave again before dark. There's a parade of trucks pulling trailers full of livestock where that blocked road hits the freeway...this is a rural area, country people, lots of animals.

[malaise]

26. 18 persons 'unaccounted for'

http://www.theguardian.com/world/feedarticle/11259660
<snip>
Eighteen people were unaccounted for a day after a terrifying wall of mud, trees and debris destroyed as many as 30 houses in rural northwestern Washington state and killed at least three people, authorities said Sunday.

Because of the quicksand-like mud, authorities said it was too dangerous to send rescuers into the stricken area. Searchers instead flew over the one-square-mile mudslide in helicopters, looking for signs of life.

Some of the missing may have been able to get out on their own, authorities said.

Authorities were also trying to determine how to get responders on the ground safely, Snohomish County Fire District 21 Chief Travis Hots said.

Officials described the mudslide as "a big wall of mud and debris" that blocked about one mile of State Route 530 near the town of Oso, about 55 miles north of Seattle. It was reported about 60 feet deep in some

[countryjake]

28. It may be more than 30 missing now, 8 confirmed dead...

Last edited Mon Mar 24, 2014, 04:44 PM - Edit history (1)

On our late news last night, they began showing pictures of all those who lived on Steelhead Drive, and naming others who were feared to have been working or driving thru that area when the mudslide happened. One guy, an Oso firefighter, is waiting for word on his wife and his four month old grandbaby...he and his daughter (mommy of the little girl) had gone into town together the morning the slide came down, leaving gramma home to babysit. His house is gone now and the family is holding vigil at the daughter's home. Another woman was pulled from the mud soon after the slide on Saturday and rushed to the hospital, her four year old little boy was found alive later that afternoon. But still missing is her husband and three of her other children. Their house is gone.

Some of those still unaccounted for will probably be identified as the five victims that were found on Sunday. The rescuers were unable to recover those bodies, but they marked the locations. There is a bulletin board up at one of the shelters in Darrington where relatives are posting pictures of family members they're unable to locate and the reporter says that she counted 31 loved ones missing, desperate pleas for any information on them.

Watch the video at this link, it's terribly sad, but there was one bright spot on it...one small bright spot:

http://www.king5.com/news/local/Family-finds-glimmer-of-light-in-landslide-rubble-251941581.html

and here:

http://www.king5.com/video?id=251782971&sec=548932&ref=rcvidmod

[malaise]

44. I was listening to the international headlines

while out walking and heard that over 108 persons are missing.

[countryjake]

46. Death toll up to 10 now, rescue crews pulled back...

my man just came home from work and he said that some relatives are so frustrated (and distraught) that they've gone down there to search for themselves. I feel so badly for the first responders, it's an unsafe and extremely dangerous task, with the river re-channeling thru the slide...they aren't even able to pull some of the bodies that they do find out, the mud is like quicksand, so they're tagging the locations for later retrieval. Now trying to deal with hysterical families on the scene won't be very helpful, at all. It's clouding up here and more rain is coming. This is just awful!

[uppityperson]

43. What gets me is where it blew out, it wasn't that steep, not like to the left in that shot

Around it looks like a hill.

[countryjake]

45. Don't know about the Peninsula, but March rainfall is more than 11 inches over here...

so far, plus, that same area had a smaller slide back in 2006, so the hill was already unstable. The DNR and other experts, geologists, are claiming that erosion had caused the base of the slide to weaken. (heaven forbid that anyone would ever actually mention the word clearcutting in the same sentence as "erosion".) But we've had literally buckets of rain dumped on us for the past month...the National Weather Service says we're up to 200% the normal rainfall here in the last 45 days.

If you look for Steelhead Drive in Oso on google maps and switch it to satellite view, the gash from the original movement in 2006 is clearly visible above all of those farms and houses on that little road.

[uppityperson]

49. I dislike watering in the summer but living in the rainshadow is nice. I see what you mean about tha

hill, the satellite view. That makes me feel a little better, knowing it was known to be unstable, as better as anything could here I mean.

Have you any idea when that area was cut last?

One corner I drive regularly, in the county, was cut deep, road is next to quite a cliff and I always go slowly in the spring as it often has bits coming down and it would surprise no one to have the whole thing slip. No houses below and not as big of a hill as that one was.

Reading the stories of who is missing is heartwrenching.

Here is what Cliff Mass wrote
http://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-meteorological-background-for.html
"So we had a very wet month, topped off very heavy precipitation earlier in the week."

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

54. I wonder if any seismic activity registered

before the actual slide.

[countryjake]

60. They aren't saying if anything registered before, but...

here's what it looked like as it happened:


The Oso landslide as captured by seismographs. Major slide in red followed by additional hillside movement.

http://www.kirotv.com/gallery/news/photos-mudslide-block-both-directions-roadway-near/gCJkZ/#4810314

[WhiteTara]

27. The results of clear cutting

This happens often in the NW because of greedy lumber companies. The people who live below are doomed to the same fate as these poor people. Another reason to review/change our environmental policies.

[Le Taz Hot]

29. I was reading about this in LBN.

I understand there are at least 18 people missing and possibly more. How terrible this must be for their anxious families.

[malaise]

31. 30 people missing - this is so sad

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024718234

[countryjake]

32. Our noon news raised that number up to 108, malaise.

They are saying that the number of unaccounted for is "fluid". So many had no idea that this slide even happened and there were a lot more than 30 houses in the path of the mud. Also, we have a friend who's brother drove down there on Sat. morning, in his dish company van, and they can't find him at home or anywhere. People just didn't realize why they can't locate their loved ones, and the awful truth is now dawning on them.

This is so sad. The latest press conference said that the 108 number of unaccounted for may eventually go down, but they have not found any victims alive since Saturday.

[malaise]

47. Why isn't this receiving the same coverage as the missing airline?

This is horrible

[countryjake]

48. Death toll up to 14 today.

Five o'clock news confirming that fourteen are now confirmed dead.

I have no idea why it's not being covered, but if you remember from Saturday, our own local news people were very slow in picking up the story. We have mudslides here all the time, so that may be one of the reasons.

This is a horrible tragedy.

(Our friends didn't even know anything had happened down in Oso, til yesterday afternoon. Now they are looking for their missing brother.)

[uppityperson]

50. Here is a good shot of it and a plat map, they are 90 degrees off from each other.

But the plat map shows the slide area so you can rotate in your mind and look for the houses.





Maybe because it is a rural area, not dramatic and normal for so many, like flying. It hit BBC and other Euro media.

[countryjake]

53. And here is what it looked like before the mudslide...

Corresponding to the positioning of that plat map.

[uppityperson]

56. Thank you for that. whew

[cherokeeprogressive]

68. I was about to post the same thing. If that's Google Earth, the picture is from 7/2013

Seems to me that someone should have seen this coming. From what I see here it had already been moving as far back as last July.

[countryjake]

71. Well, I snipped it from Google Maps, here's the link to the exact spot...

Last edited Tue Mar 25, 2014, 01:35 AM - Edit history (1)

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=oso+wa&ll=48.281736,-121.840911&spn=0.016564,0.033088&hnear=Oso,+Snohomish+County,+Washington&gl=us&t=h&z=15

I agree, that scarp up there at the top is mighty obvious, right where the tree line stops. And the river is clearly snaking it's way into the bottom, too.

Did you see my reply to uppity, earlier, where I told her about the incredible rains we've had this month?

There was another big slide at this same bluff back in 2006, not nearly as major, but I remember that a ton of young trees came down into the Stilly and diverted the course of the river, causing the area that's totally decimated now to be flooded pretty badly. Also, my SO was working at a mill in Oso when the first landslide occurred, same exact place, mid-eighties or thereabouts, and everyone back then, including the experts, blamed it on excessive logging. This week's mudslide and 2006's both happened after very heavy rainfall, but erosion and the nature of the soil, itself, left the hill easily overwhelmed.

[uppityperson]

72. They are now theorizing that with the big rains, the river undercut the bank enough to

allow it to go. It is incredible, the whole thing and so sad.

[malaise]

55. UK Guardian had it before CNN Or MSNBC

and it's all over BBC.

[uppityperson]

58. Huh, they were probably too busy selling "stay tuned for the next plane update" to care about

giving news rather than entertainment.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

52. U saw that 108 too, but the housemate had said she

thought it might be a typo, since yesterday she saw 18. If it's really up to 108, that doesn't sound promising at all.

[uppityperson]

57. Those are people who were or may have been in the area. 1 woman from out of the

immediate area was driving by and got caught. I am sure others will show up once they get word they have not been in contact with anyone since Sat, but there will be more bodies.

http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2023215066_mudslidemondayxml.html

Fourteen people are confirmed dead from the massive mudslide in Snohomish County, after searchers found six more bodies this afternoon.

There are still 108 reports of missing and unaccounted-for individuals as a result of the disaster.

John Pennington, who heads the county’s Department of Emergency Management, quickly said earlier that some reports of the missing are vague and insists the number of victims will not be nearly that large. He called 108 “a soft number.”

Snohomish County Fire District 21 Chief Travis Hots said “the situation is very grim.”.....

[uppityperson]

51. Story about the search and those missing, also theory of rain/river undercut, history of slide there

http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2023215066_mudslidemondayxml.html

http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2023211593_mudslidesciencexml.html

River probably undercut, destabilized soggy slope
Slides are part of our geologic heritage in the Pacific Northwest, but it’s almost impossible to tell when a slope is primed to fail.


Geologists say Saturday’s massive mudslide was probably triggered when the Stillaguamish River undercut a slope already weakened by the relentless rainfall of recent weeks.

“When you have a really steep bank made out of loose material, with the river eroding out the toe, that’s a recipe for one of these slides,” said University of Washington geomorphologist David Montgomery.

A geologic map of the area published in 2003 noted the high landslide hazard, and the same spot was hit with a smaller slide in 2006.

Nevertheless, the size and force of the wall of mud that barreled across the river came as a surprise, Montgomery added....

http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2023211509_mudslidehistoryxml.html

Site has long history of slide problems
The area of Snohomish County hit by a mudslide Saturday has long been susceptible to slides and floods, and the state has previously taken steps to try to stabilize it.

The pocket of Snohomish County hit by a mudslide Saturday has long been susceptible to slides and floods, bedeviling engineers who for decades have built dikes, rock buttresses and drainage systems in hopes of managing the river and stabilizing the hills.

For the North Fork of the Stillaguamish River — clean and clear in the early 1900s, when it became known as an ideal steelhead stream and was fished by the likes of Western novelist Zane Grey — there was the flood of 1933, the slide of 1967, the slide of 2006.

The slide eight years ago dispatched a wall of mud down the same hill that buckled this weekend. “This is the very same mass of rock and dirt,” said Tim Walsh, geologic hazards chief for the state Department of Natural Resources. “It just moved again.”

“Landslides often occur in the same place over and over.”....

[malaise]

61. Why are homes built in the path of these mudslides?

Too sad

[uppityperson]

65. Why do people build houses near the ocean, in the woods, in tornado lands, etc.

When we lived in Juneau, became very aware the high school was built in an avalanche zone. It was creepy and they really need to move the school. A lot of that area is steep but at the bottom of a known zone? BAD planning.

http://www.ktoo.org/2013/12/13/juneau-avalanche-danger-is-high/
http://juneauempire.com/stories/010205/loc_20050102001.shtml

[suffragette]

74. I read that one of the farms was in the family for five generations

http://www.nwcn.com/news/washington/Oso-darrington-landslide-Monday-251915291.html

The body of Linda McPherson, 69, whose family had lived on their farm outside Oso for five generations, was among those found Sunday, according to a family friend. Her husband, Gary "Mac" McPherson, was injured in the mudslide; his condition was not immediately available.



So, to some degree it's where you're born and raised.

I guess each area has it's perils. Some regions are more prone to tornados, some to hurricanes. In Washington, the earth shifts, whether from slides, earthquakes or volcanos. And we have ample water that carves through earth and rock.

Much farther south, where the Columbia river divides Washingon and Oregon, there is a modern bridge located in a place that tribes said once had a large stone bridge, now thought to be from a huge landslide.

Here's a link that has both the science behind that and the legend of 'Bridge of the Gods.'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridge_of_the_Gods_(land_bridge)

[malaise]

75. I guess the mudslides don't happen that often

It is the same with hurricanes - the time between two major ones in Jamaica (Charlie and Gilbert) was 37 years and people forgot. A new generation never experienced Gilbert.

By the way I heard a few minutes ago that 176 people are missing. This is frightening.

[uppityperson]

59. 2 more photos from Seattle PI, and link to their article.

http://www.seattlepi.com/news/us/article/Washington-slide-death-toll-14-search-continues-5343142.php

[countryjake]

64. 176 reports of missing people...

Last edited Tue Mar 25, 2014, 12:13 AM - Edit history (2)

14 dead in Washington mudslide; search continues

http://www.komonews.com/news/local/No-signs-of-life-after-huge-landslide-near-Oso-251927321.html

As the search for survivors of a destructive Washington state mudslide ballooned Monday to include scores of people who were still unaccounted for, the death toll from the wall of trees, rocks and debris that swept through a rural community rose to at least 14.

In the struggle to find loved ones, family members and neighbors used chain saws and their bare hands to dig through wreckage that was tangled by the mud into broken piles.

Late Monday, the list of potentially missing people topped 176 following the disaster Saturday about 55 miles northeast of Seattle. But Snohomish County Emergency Management Director John Pennington stressed that authorities believed the number included many duplicate names.

"The 176, I believe very strongly is not a number we're going to see in fatalities. I believe it's going to drop dramatically," he said.

The number of those possibly missing grew dramatically from an estimated 108 earlier Monday. But Pennington said the list was compiled from information provided by the public, and officials were trying to cross off reports that likely described the same person. The list included construction workers who were working in the area and people just driving by.

[uppityperson]

67. Pres Obama signs emergency declaration.

http://www.kirotv.com/news/news/agony-families-those-missing-mudslide/nfKDp/