Author Topic: Seen the news, lately?  (Read 8311 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Out There

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 18
  • Country: us
Seen the news, lately?
« on: March 24, 2014, 04:25:44 PM »
For any of you who may have seen/heard the sort of the mudslide in Washington state… that happened less than 20 miles from where I live. The rescue crews have created a lot of traffic, both on the road and in the air. We saw them bringing up a hovercraft this morning. Still no more bodies…. and absolutely no more survivors.  :(
Off-Grid: 8 Solec photovoltaic panels, AIR 403 wind turbine, Trace 4024 power center, C-40 charge controller, 8 Costco Golf Cart batteries (24 volts/416 Ah ). Generac Guardian 8kw for back-up. (currently running back-up to back-up: Duromax 4400 dual fuel genset)Maybe MicroHydro sometime this year

boB

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 389
  • Country: us
    • boB
Re: Seen the news, lately?
« Reply #1 on: March 24, 2014, 08:05:19 PM »

Yes, it's about 15 miles or so from MidNite here in Arlington...

Two of our employees knew someone that got caught up in (died) in this slide.

One of our employees that lives in Darrington will be living nearby in their RV for
a while until the main road gets repaired.  That could be a while.

dnix71

  • SuperHero Member
  • ******
  • Posts: 2513
Re: Seen the news, lately?
« Reply #2 on: March 24, 2014, 09:19:48 PM »
What caused the slide? I hear it was too much rain. That sounds bogus. Washington State and Oregon get a lot of rain at times.

There is a mall here in Sunrise a mile on a side, so I know the scale.

boB

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 389
  • Country: us
    • boB
Re: Seen the news, lately?
« Reply #3 on: March 25, 2014, 02:07:18 AM »
What caused the slide? I hear it was too much rain. That sounds bogus. Washington State and Oregon get a lot of rain at times.

There is a mall here in Sunrise a mile on a side, so I know the scale.

The local news weatherman says that the ground was more saturated than usual because of the extreme amount of
rain here lately.

electrondady1

  • SuperHero Member
  • ******
  • Posts: 3120
  • Country: ca
Re: Seen the news, lately?
« Reply #4 on: March 25, 2014, 07:56:41 AM »
they put up a before and after picture . looked like that bit had been clear cut.

OperaHouse

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1308
  • Country: us
Re: Seen the news, lately?
« Reply #5 on: March 25, 2014, 09:48:39 AM »
Rare, but it happens more than you think.  A couple bought 400 acres in thr NY Adirondacks and built a home to retire in.  Two
years ago they had a landslide due to high rains. A geologist said it waqs the largest one in the Adirondacks for a thousand years.
I was due to a layer of large gravel deposited by the glaciers that acted like ball bearings when it became saturated with water.
The house was near the edge of it.  House was fairly intact but had moved 20 feet and was now near a cliff.  They wanted to move
the house about 1000 feet to stable ground.  The insurance company wouldn't pay the $75,000 to do it.  Remembered this because I
was insured by the same company.  Isn't that the reason we get insurance, for the unexpected.  My house is 20 feet from the edge of
a cliff, then it is 40 feet doen to the river.  Looks solid enough, but then they thought that too.

Out There

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 18
  • Country: us
Re: Seen the news, lately?
« Reply #6 on: March 25, 2014, 12:07:32 PM »
What the politicians and the media will not, under any circumstances, mention is this: Yes, this is the Pacific Northwest and YES, we gat a lot of rain here. BUT…. that area is a) near a river, so runoff actually has a place to go and b) like MANY areas in this region, it is a logging community. Clear-cuts are the norm, not the exception, around here. Some "forestry" company comes in and buys up a whole section at a time, divides it up into blocks and clear-cuts a block at a time. The rubble had some trees in it, but they were probably downhill from where the slide originated. So, like electrondady1 said…. the "disaster" is likely man-made. The industry is so entrenched that people honestly and fervently believe they could not live without their income from "forestry". You will not change their minds. Yet, if someone had pockets deep enough  or the cajones to legally stand toe-to-toe with the forestry industry and sue them for negligence and/or wrongful death, I think they would have a case. But that won't happen. Not here. Not now.
-Brian
« Last Edit: March 25, 2014, 12:13:22 PM by Out There »
Off-Grid: 8 Solec photovoltaic panels, AIR 403 wind turbine, Trace 4024 power center, C-40 charge controller, 8 Costco Golf Cart batteries (24 volts/416 Ah ). Generac Guardian 8kw for back-up. (currently running back-up to back-up: Duromax 4400 dual fuel genset)Maybe MicroHydro sometime this year

12AX7

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 814
Re: Seen the news, lately?
« Reply #7 on: March 25, 2014, 10:52:27 PM »
There are a few news reports today that said that there was a mild earthquake in the area of the  mud slide just a few days before the slide.

joestue

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1759
  • Country: 00
Re: Seen the news, lately?
« Reply #8 on: March 25, 2014, 11:54:03 PM »
hmm.. was it clear cut within the last 30 years?

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/03/25/article-2587893-1C8B51FC00000578-128_964x637.jpg
those trees you see once covered that entire hillside, as shown here
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/03/25/article-2588991-1C8E309400000578-12_470x423.jpg

but there's that ridge showing exposed earth.. looking at the geometry it appears its been slipping for years.
My wife says I'm not just a different colored rubik's cube, i am a rubik's knot in a cage.

Out There

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 18
  • Country: us
Re: Seen the news, lately?
« Reply #9 on: March 26, 2014, 11:24:58 AM »
I think I would have felt or heard about an earthquake up here. I haven't heard that, yet. Also, I don'tt know when the last clear-cut was.  The spin is already coming, though. The forestry folk are going to do everything in their power to ensure that this is blamed solely on Mother Nature. Personally, I don't buy it. I drive down a road, each morning, where small slides are evident. We're downhill (almost on the river) from many clear-cuts. Even in my own yard, I see the effects. In those photos you see a lot of light-colored deciduous trees. Those are alders and they grow fiercely in wet areas…. like weeds…. but their seeds lie dormant for years when there's a canopy from the conifers. The alders are extremely shallow rooting trees. A small amount of run-off can dislodge them. So you get the domino effect and you end up with a mess!
-Brian
Off-Grid: 8 Solec photovoltaic panels, AIR 403 wind turbine, Trace 4024 power center, C-40 charge controller, 8 Costco Golf Cart batteries (24 volts/416 Ah ). Generac Guardian 8kw for back-up. (currently running back-up to back-up: Duromax 4400 dual fuel genset)Maybe MicroHydro sometime this year

MattM

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1167
  • Country: us
Re: Seen the news, lately?
« Reply #10 on: March 26, 2014, 09:17:30 PM »
The state had flagged the area as a disaster likely to happen in the immediate future.  Obviously something changed to make them decide that.  If a logging company destabilized the hill then they'll get eaten alive in court.

Mary B

  • Administrator
  • SuperHero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3169
Re: Seen the news, lately?
« Reply #11 on: March 27, 2014, 05:37:40 PM »
News I saw today said there was a 1.0 quake in the area a couple days before the slide. Claimed it was not strong enough to have been the trigger. Blaming the makeup of the soil with layers of clay under gravel getting soaked and turning into a sheet of teflon basically.

birdhouse

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 919
  • Country: us
  • Portland, OR USA
Re: Seen the news, lately?
« Reply #12 on: March 27, 2014, 05:49:38 PM »
yea, maryalana- i heard something about the gravel acting like ball bearings. 

although i'm sure logging could have something to do with this, we have had a very unusual winter here in the NW.  it's been years since we've gotten snow like this last winter.  then in late winter we got rain like we typically don't get.  everyone knows it rains all winter in the NW, but it's typically just spitting.  this year we got multiple inches in less than 24 hours on multiple occasions.  not your standard NW rain patterns. 

adam