Here's a clip from the news... its been RAINING up this way!

The Ground is Moving

From KGW TV

ASTORIA, Ore. – A massive landslide has been causing major trouble in Astoria and forced the city to shut down streets.

The intersection of First and Commercial streets is a mess of concrete and mud. Huge cracks appeared on Duane Street and debris has closed part of Bond Street, according to The Daily Astorian.

The slide, which grew dramatically in the past few days, has blocked access to some homes. No homes were threatened so far, but city crews have relocated utility and power lines.

The city manager said crews are monitoring the situation non-stop and a plan is in place with the Red Cross in the event that any homes will need to be evacuated.

People have been warned to stay away from the unstable slide area.

According to The Daily Astorian, a portion of the slide area dropped as much as eight to 10 feet overnight and contains even larger vertical drops.

The slide started in January, but was slow-growing until the last 36 hours.

Its always amazing to me when something like this happens...   

This slide is in an area that slid in 1954, which wrecked a considerable number of homes.  The city of Astoria bought the properties, and prohibited development in the area, against some considerable pressure.  It has remained largely stable until this year.

I lived near Astoria in 1996, when the whole area was flooded with the "100-year flood of 1996"... it didn't slide then, but they talked about it - along with some other "typical" slide zones, some of which did slide.

As Spring develops, we'll start having periods of VERY heavy rain, and we'll hear more and more about slide zones like this.  The ground has been soaking up water all Winter, and for the most part, its saturated, so any new rains bring flooding and sliding.

All part of what makes the PNW paradise... unless you happen to live in a slide or flood prone zone, I guess.

 

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