|
|
03-24-2014, 10:22 PM
|
Member
|
|
|
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Mukilteo, Washington
Posts: 1,856
Likes: 1,835
Liked 791 Times in 423 Posts
|
|
Mud slide in Darrington, WA
Last Saturday, a mile wide mud slide took out the town of Oso, WA. 14 are confirmed dead and approximately 108 people are still unaccounted for. Rescuers are having a hard time searching the area due to the amount of mud. We are expecting more rain throughout the week further hampering recovery efforts.
With all the news concentrating on the missing Malaysia airlines, this story hasn't really gotten the attention from the media.
Darrington is about 20 miles north of me. My deepest symphathies to those effected.
|
The Following 3 Users Like Post:
|
|
03-24-2014, 10:44 PM
|
|
Member
|
|
|
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Lost Wages, NV
Posts: 19,817
Likes: 24,223
Liked 28,979 Times in 10,765 Posts
|
|
I've been following this event. It must be very disheartening for the emergency responders to find the very ground is too unstable to walk on to even attempt a rescue.
I looked on Google maps and it appears that the area has moved or tried to in the past. Where the scarp face is now you can see signs of previous smaller slips with trees ripped out of the ground. However, I'm not sure if it would be that visible from the road and community below. Bad business.
Last edited by LVSteve; 03-25-2014 at 12:03 AM.
|
The Following User Likes This Post:
|
|
03-24-2014, 11:18 PM
|
|
Member
|
|
|
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Mountlake Terrace, WA
Posts: 2,139
Likes: 1,139
Liked 1,476 Times in 593 Posts
|
|
Some rescuers had to be rescued themselves - up to their waists and higher in a mud slurry that acted like quicksand.
I've driven that road more than once - it was my preferred method of getting to the North Cascades Hwy and Diablo Lake.
|
03-24-2014, 11:21 PM
|
US Veteran
|
|
|
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Charles Town, WV
Posts: 4,159
Likes: 959
Liked 1,922 Times in 1,129 Posts
|
|
Sad thing for all involved. Prayers sent fort those effected.
__________________
Psalm 23:4
|
03-24-2014, 11:22 PM
|
US Veteran
|
|
|
Join Date: May 2010
Location: North Central Florida
Posts: 5,947
Likes: 24,644
Liked 6,195 Times in 2,575 Posts
|
|
We will pray tonight.
|
03-25-2014, 01:56 PM
|
|
US Veteran
|
|
|
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: West Central IL
Posts: 22,758
Likes: 18,437
Liked 22,313 Times in 8,245 Posts
|
|
I thought it was reported as Arlington WA. That's only a few miles North of my Son's place in Marysville WA. I visited a nice firing range and gun shop there last summer when we visited. It doesn't look good out there.
__________________
H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244
|
03-25-2014, 02:36 PM
|
|
Member
|
|
|
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Mountlake Terrace, WA
Posts: 2,139
Likes: 1,139
Liked 1,476 Times in 593 Posts
|
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by H Richard
I thought it was reported as Arlington WA. That's only a few miles North of my Son's place in Marysville WA. I visited a nice firing range and gun shop there last summer when we visited. It doesn't look good out there.
|
Arlington is the closest town of any size. It's where highways 530 and 9 meet. It's about 12 miles going east from Arlington to the site of the mudslide.
No it isn't looking good. More rain today. Slide area is too unstable to use heavy equipment so searching and cleanup are by hand and foot. Friend of a friend's brother was in the area installing a satellite dish. No official word but... you know.
|
03-25-2014, 04:02 PM
|
|
Member
|
|
|
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Marysville Wa.
Posts: 351
Likes: 406
Liked 495 Times in 161 Posts
|
|
2 people I know have family or friends missing.
Just terrible
http://www.nwcn.com/
Don
Last edited by QuickDrawMcGraw; 03-26-2014 at 01:17 AM.
|
03-25-2014, 04:35 PM
|
Member
|
|
|
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Sierra Nevada foothills
Posts: 5,858
Likes: 4
Liked 4,386 Times in 1,673 Posts
|
|
My daughter & her husband & girls live in Marysville, Wa. also. We've been to Arlington many times. I think that's on the way to Mount Baker.
|
03-25-2014, 04:37 PM
|
Absent Comrade
|
|
|
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Louisville, KY, USA
Posts: 19,336
Likes: 53,737
Liked 38,386 Times in 11,801 Posts
|
|
Horrible. Prayers on the way.
__________________
Oh well, what the hell.
|
03-25-2014, 10:22 PM
|
Member
|
|
|
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Mukilteo, Washington
Posts: 1,856
Likes: 1,835
Liked 791 Times in 423 Posts
|
|
Update
24 now confirmed dead, 176 unaccounted for. The 176 list are said to be duplicates as people are reporting missing loved ones. A very sad story.
|
03-25-2014, 11:11 PM
|
|
Member
|
|
|
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Sandy Utah
Posts: 8,615
Likes: 1,554
Liked 8,602 Times in 3,450 Posts
|
|
The slide occurred less than 4 miles East of Oso, WA, directly above Steelhead Drive. This is about 14 miles East of Arlington and 12 miles West of Darrington. One of my pet peeves is the habit of the media calling out a location "near" an event instead of describing the actual location.
If you use Google Earth the exact location is: 48°17'4.56"N - 121°50'52.12"W Simply paste these coordinates into the search field and Google Earth will take you directly to the site. The damaged area is directly across the river.
__________________
Gunsmithing since 1961
|
The Following User Likes This Post:
|
|
03-26-2014, 12:20 AM
|
|
Absent Comrade
|
|
|
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: TEXAS!!!
Posts: 8,358
Likes: 13,912
Liked 21,084 Times in 4,913 Posts
|
|
Are there any updates available?
__________________
Lounge Lizard Extraordinaire
|
03-26-2014, 01:16 AM
|
|
Member
|
|
|
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Marysville Wa.
Posts: 351
Likes: 406
Liked 495 Times in 161 Posts
|
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by timn8er
Are there any updates available?
|
----> NWCN | Northwest News, Local News, Breaking News, Weather
~ Don
|
The Following User Likes This Post:
|
|
03-26-2014, 11:01 AM
|
|
US Veteran
|
|
|
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Fruitland Idaho
Posts: 5,076
Likes: 1,586
Liked 4,882 Times in 2,025 Posts
|
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by H Richard
I thought it was reported as Arlington WA. That's only a few miles North of my Son's place in Marysville WA. I visited a nice firing range and gun shop there last summer when we visited. It doesn't look good out there.
|
That was probably the Norpoint range and gun shop. I shoot an IDPA match there every month. I haven't heard anything about next months match yet but wouldn't be surprised if their schedule gets modified. The range is West of Arlington so it's even closer to the slide area. I'm sure many of the members know some of the victims or are victims themselves. This is a sad affair. I grew up in this area and slides are a pretty regular occurrence but the size of this one is an abnormality.
__________________
Minimize the variables
|
03-26-2014, 08:35 PM
|
|
US Veteran
|
|
|
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: West Central IL
Posts: 22,758
Likes: 18,437
Liked 22,313 Times in 8,245 Posts
|
|
Yes, it was Norpoint. I sent my son his old Anschutz match rifle he used on the HS shooting Team, as he now has a boy old enough to learn with a good rifle. I understand there is a Marysville Gun Club also.
__________________
H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244
|
03-26-2014, 09:23 PM
|
|
US Veteran
|
|
|
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: WA.
Posts: 4,435
Likes: 4,490
Liked 4,461 Times in 2,182 Posts
|
|
I worked as a surveyor for Snohomish County for 30 years. In 2007 I was working on a dike that had been built on the river in that neighborhood. In 2006 a slide had moved the river several hundred feet south into the residential area that was completely demolished by that slide a few days ago. I talked to several people that lived there who are probably buried under 15' of mud right now. I'm sure many of those people will never be found.
This whole thing is very tragic and my heart goes out to the families who will never know exactly what happened to their loved ones. I've lived in this area since 1975 and the only disaster that even comes close was when Mt. St. Helen's erupted 34 years ago. I suspect that the death toll will be around 100 people.
__________________
That's just somebody talkin.
|
03-27-2014, 08:27 AM
|
|
Member
|
|
|
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Marysville Wa.
Posts: 351
Likes: 406
Liked 495 Times in 161 Posts
|
|
|
03-27-2014, 09:34 AM
|
|
US Veteran
|
|
|
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: WA.
Posts: 4,435
Likes: 4,490
Liked 4,461 Times in 2,182 Posts
|
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alk8944
The slide occurred less than 4 miles East of Oso, WA, directly above Steelhead Drive. This is about 14 miles East of Arlington and 12 miles West of Darrington. One of my pet peeves is the habit of the media calling out a location "near" an event instead of describing the actual location.
If you use Google Earth the exact location is: 48°17'4.56"N - 121°50'52.12"W Simply paste these coordinates into the search field and Google Earth will take you directly to the site. The damaged area is directly across the river.
|
Exactly.
The news media has not discovered GPS and Goggle Earth. I heard one report that said the town of Oso, WA. was destroyed. Most accounts of disasters only give the location of the nearest town and in some cases not even that. If you know people who live in the area it would be helpful for the media to give the coordinates of the disaster so people would know exactly where it was. My cell phone will give me coordinates in about a minute. All the media has to do is request coordinates from emergency management dispatchers but they don't even know enough to do that.
__________________
That's just somebody talkin.
|
03-28-2014, 01:13 PM
|
Member
|
|
|
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Eastern Washington
Posts: 4,913
Likes: 3,226
Liked 6,813 Times in 2,543 Posts
|
|
First, I do not want to appear unsympathetic but much of this tragedy could have been avoided,
We travel through this area several times a year. We go steelhead/salmon fishing in the Skagit, do an annual fall foliage trip along North Cascade Hwy, through the Nat'l Park (If the pases haven't closed early), down through Darrington to Monroe and back over Snoqualmie and Blewett Passes. We also try to go see the eagles in early Spring along the Skagit (North Cascade Pass is almost always closed until May, at least so we have to go through the Darrington area).
The very first trip through the area, I noticed that many of the hills were clear-cut==nothing left to re-route or hold back erosion and many hills had homes at the base, right along the road. The bottom of the hills were a valley, 1/2 stream and 1/2 road==typical flood plains. Any ethical planner would have pointed out that any lender is going to require flood insurance. However, many Supervisors are "good ol' boys" and don't disclose or just ignore flood hazards, especially when the applicant is a friend or relative. This is not economic necessity but simple greed. "I don't want to pay for flood insurance" or "I don't want to leave buffers". We see this with docks on the Columbia. It is estimated that 90%+ of the boat docks are illegal and do not have environmental clearance (per a Corps Engineer I know). I'll bet most of these people refused to get flood insurance and the houses are not likely built to code.
It is safe to say that most, if not all of the flood plains on the west side of Washington is subject to flooding. Volcanic activity increases the risk (Just look at the Snoqualmie floods of a few years ago or the Cowlitz floods.) And other floods have occurred in this area. All you have to do is observe the hillside erosion and the logjams in the streams to know it is not safe. "Building your house on sand" as the Bible says. The same situation exists in SoCal every year or two after the Malibu fires and the resulting mud flows. But yet, they rebuild. And the cycle begins again.
For what it is worth, the lahars (volcanic mud slides) that will occur when (not if Rainier blows) will be worse. I've heard predictions that Seattle will be "gone" in 20-30 minutes from the resulting mud slides.
My prayers go out and I include a prayer that people learn from this trajedy and do not repeat the same mistakes as last time, God willing.
|
The Following User Likes This Post:
|
|
03-28-2014, 10:08 PM
|
|
US Veteran Absent Comrade
|
|
|
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Texas
Posts: 7,581
Likes: 13,500
Liked 6,743 Times in 2,526 Posts
|
|
To expand on BearBio's theme, I think the entire city of Tacoma is built on volcanic mud slides from Ranier, and it's a ways from that mountin. I've been told how deep the mud is, but don't remember; it's a considerable amount, though.
|
03-29-2014, 02:00 AM
|
Member
|
|
|
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Mukilteo, Washington
Posts: 1,856
Likes: 1,835
Liked 791 Times in 423 Posts
|
|
There was a lot of trees that went down with the slide. Look at the picture of the slide area, many of the trees lying symetrically in the direction of the mud flow. But the ground was glacial till compound that with all the rain we received in the area was a disaster in the making. I'm just surprised how deep the glacial till can be.
|
03-29-2014, 02:19 AM
|
|
Member
|
|
|
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: (outside) Charleston, SC
Posts: 30,906
Likes: 41,494
Liked 29,147 Times in 13,778 Posts
|
|
I just can't express....
The slide itself is a horrible disaster, but the aftermath of trying for days to search and dig in that mud is in itself horrendous.
|
03-29-2014, 08:21 AM
|
|
Absent Comrade
|
|
|
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Cary, NC
Posts: 3,082
Likes: 12,877
Liked 7,548 Times in 2,081 Posts
|
|
Not Suitable For Anything
There are many areas of unsafe ground upon which homes were built. Besides mudslides and avalanches, I'm thinking of the sinkholes that swallow people and homes, primarily in Florida. Then, there's those wild brush fires in the southwest that consume homes by the hundreds. Also, flood zones, such as New Orleans built below sea level and "protected" by a dyke. I won't even get into earthquakes and tornados as they can strike virtually anywhere.
Of course, if the various municipalities tried to forcibly remove housing from unsafe or potentially unstable areas, the ACLU would be so busy fighting on behalf of homeowners that they'd have no time for their anti-Christian and anti-gun agenda.
In some areas, land availability is so tight that homes are increasingly built in marginal areas as in many cases, it's the only land left.
|
|
Thread Tools |
|
Display Modes |
Linear Mode
|
Posting Rules
|
|
|
|
|