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