Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Idaho
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 03-26-2014, 05:48 PM
 
8,440 posts, read 13,383,661 times
Reputation: 6289

Advertisements

Sadly, we're learning of more victims of the massive mudslide in Oso, WA. Should Idaho be doing anything NOW to try to prevent a mudslide like this in ID? Are there NID areas at more risk?

Let's learn and change anything we possibly can from our neighboring state's tragedy.

I send my deepest condolences to the survivors and my prayers for safety to those working on the recovery efforts . I'm glad crisis counselors are on scene today.

msr
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 03-26-2014, 06:25 PM
 
Location: Lakeside
5,266 posts, read 8,698,600 times
Reputation: 5687
Hoping this applies to my area too: Could Spokane See A Massive Landslide? - Spokane, North Idaho News & Weather KHQ.com


but then there is all this:
http://www.bhs.idaho.gov/Pages/Plans...de%20Draft.pdf
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-26-2014, 07:40 PM
 
3,969 posts, read 13,616,769 times
Reputation: 1576
A lot of this unstable land in Western Washington is built on glacial deposits. In fact, the entire geography of Puget Sound and the formations of the land are the result of a glacial age not that old. (I think within the past 10,000 years, though somebody could correct me). Idaho's geography, with the possible exception of the panhandle, is not the same. However, there was a major slide that shut down a highway in 2011 in far Western Wyoming not far from Jackson. So the jury is out. I would invite experts to weigh in here.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-26-2014, 09:06 PM
 
8,440 posts, read 13,383,661 times
Reputation: 6289
Quote:
Originally Posted by pw72 View Post
A lot of this unstable land in Western Washington is built on glacial deposits. In fact, the entire geography of Puget Sound and the formations of the land are the result of a glacial age not that old. (I think within the past 10,000 years, though somebody could correct me). Idaho's geography, with the possible exception of the panhandle, is not the same. However, there was a major slide that shut down a highway in 2011 in far Western Wyoming not far from Jackson. So the jury is out. I would invite experts to weigh in here.

PW,

Thank you for adding your geology knowledge along with your native son view here.

You know I suck at Geology, Certain Exit signs and a few more things. I would be happy if you would like to mold the direction of this thread I started this post essentially to 1. Make sure Idaho Residents were aware of Oso and 2. To be pro-active in thinking about areas of the state where some of the same factors could lead to bad outcomes in the wrong circumstances.

I'm glad you identified the area near Jackson. I doubt that is the only location that has narrow and restricted access, if a tragedy were to occur. As I understand Oso, and PLEASE correct me if I'm wrong, one factor is the limited access to continue recovery efforts. Where else in Idaho is access limited or restricted to rescue people? If we got ice storms etc., we could have some of the same factors.

Also, be it numbness and denial or priority on other stories, a lot of the media was slow to cover this. What could we do in ID to get beyond that obstacle?

Finally, forgive me for not knowing this info. Should it be IDOT, other State of ID Depts. or more Federal Depts. (Or all of the above and others) who are the expert opinions we need evaluating and inspecting areas now? I hope you understand what I mean. If not, please think of who you would want checking certain areas and whether they work privately or for the State or Federal Gov't.and list in this thread. Maybe some of us know people who do those jobs professionally and could ask them.

msr

P.S. If you would consider copying and posting your great post in the Current Events thread, I would be very grateful. A native son can both answer questions and stop some speculation with an insightful post like yours. Some think it was just a really bad rain storm that had a village sink in a mudslide. If you aren't up to it, we'll eventually get there
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-27-2014, 12:54 AM
 
Location: Old Mother Idaho
29,179 posts, read 22,184,672 times
Reputation: 23800
I'm no expert, but I've read some stuff about our geology.
The last ice age's height was about 20,000 years ago, and it was different than the earlier ones. There was still a hugely thick mantle of ice that covered most of Canada when it happened, but in our area, the ice sheet, called the Cordillera mantle, lay only in N. Idaho. The mountains all formed massive glaciers during this period, and some of the glaciers merged into the huge ice mantle.

Idaho was higher than it's neighboring states of Montana and Washington. The huge Cordillera mantle extended in a big lobe inside Washington from Canada to halfway down to Mt. St. Helen's. As this mantle receded, it left mountainous piles of loose rocks and other debris at it's leading edge. Eventually, trees and grasses stabilized these mountains, and their weight compressed them into more solid masses, but none are solid rock as the Rockies are. Most of the upper Cascade range is like this.

Those mountains essentially have no solid core holding them up. So when there is heavy moisture, they can cut loose as slide.

As the glaciers slowly melted, they formed Lake C d'Alene and the others but mostly didn't have glaciers that merged into the ice mantle. But just over on the Montana side, the mantle extended down as far as the Flathead Lake/Kalispell area, and many mountain glaciers merged into the mantle there. They created Lake Missoula, which flooded several times and washed most of interior Washington down to the Pacific, and later, created the Columbia Gorge.

Further south east, along the northern slope of the Rockies, only mountain glaciation occurred, and so only the mountainous areas had glaciers. The rest of southern Idaho, which is higher than the north, escaped the last ice age, but the mountain glaciers left areas at their bases with unstable soil full of rocks.

Idaho escaped most of the ice mantle, but we still lie on top of a couple of big fault lines, and one has a hot spot like Hawaii- the Yellowstone Park area is where the hot spot is now, but around the same time as the last ice age, it burned it's way upward from Nevada/California and crossed Idaho in what is now the Arco desert. The hot spot is like a cutting torch working it's way through thick steel plate; small in area but very intense. It's slowly working it's way north east.

The Island Park area was once an enormous volcano that was about 9,000 feet higher than the Snake River plain. It was so large that when it blew, there were many major eruptions at once, causing it to fall into itself and creating a caldera- a volcano that lost over half of it's height. The rest went airborne and formed the volcanic soil that grows the best potatoes in the nation. Yellowstone Lake lies at the bottom of another caldera that is much larger but not as high.

MSR- Hwy. 26, the one that follows the Snake River canyon into Jackson Hole, is prone to rock slides, not mud slides. That area had mountain glaciers that chewed away solid rock, but those glaciers never moved a big bunch of dirt and loose rocky soil ahead of them as what happened in Washington. Some areas are more prone to mudslides, but we would have to get heavy coastal rainfall for many years to start them sliding. It's more likely an earthquake would be a trigger.

The slide ares along that road are well mapped and well known. The worst have steel fences to prevent errant boulders from landing on the roadway, but one big boulder can wipe out any fence. Much of the canyon is what's called 'rotten rock'- that's rock that has endured a lot of cracking due to ice expansion and contraction during winter. This can cause little rocks to peel off and fall, or part of a mountain to come loose and fall at any time.

Nature can move things very fast. Our problem as humans is: if it hasn't happened yesterday, we all think every big natural event happened ages ago. All one usually has to do is look up. If a nearby ridge looks like something came loose and slid down, there's a good chance it will slide again.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-27-2014, 07:28 AM
 
276 posts, read 641,113 times
Reputation: 325
Here's what we can learn:
Book of Proverbs, chapter 27, verse 1.
You're not guaranteed another day in this world no matter where you are.
MSR, no need to respond. I have you on ignore.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-27-2014, 08:12 AM
 
8,440 posts, read 13,383,661 times
Reputation: 6289
Default I Agree with Part

Quote:
Originally Posted by KurtAngleDoesn'tSuck View Post
Here's what we can learn:
Book of Proverbs, chapter 27, verse 1.
You're not guaranteed another day in this world no matter where you are.
MSR, no need to respond. I have you on ignore.
For everyone else who can read this, I think Kurt has made a valid point about one thing. None of us are guaranteed we'll be alive in 12 or 24 hrs. Sometimes it takes a tragedy to remind us of how precious and fragile life really is. Everyday is a gift.

Perhaps we should add that factor in our daily interactions with others. It never hurts to be the first to say you're sorry if you have had a misunderstanding or other conflict with someone who matters to you, or me.

This link from Oso kind of addresses some of that when a surviving family member is waiting for the bodies of 3-4 family members to be rescued.
Mudslide recovery brings tears to searchers

msr
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-27-2014, 08:27 AM
 
8,440 posts, read 13,383,661 times
Reputation: 6289
Quote:
Originally Posted by KurtAngleDoesn'tSuck View Post
Here's what we can learn:
Book of Proverbs, chapter 27, verse 1.
You're not guaranteed another day in this world no matter where you are.
MSR, no need to respond. I have you on ignore.
For those wondering why Kurt doesn't read my responses it's called accountability. He posted in the Idaho Falls sub-forum information that I asked for a source for vs. his personal opinion. He also posted something very negative about one of the most helpful, nicest people in the ID forum, and I questioned his accuracy.

If Kurt wants to apologize to all he lashed out against etc. there is no time like the present. Like all of us, Kurt has no guarantees he'll be alive tomorrow.

Sage, I hope you'll leave this post as it is a real life example of what Kurt mentions in his post.

Is it easier to block someone or accept responsibility for the actions/words written? Kurt has an opportunity to show all of us the real Kurt, including you since you had to remove the offensive posts.

MSR
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-27-2014, 09:23 AM
 
7,347 posts, read 12,578,947 times
Reputation: 9903
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mtn. States Resident View Post

Also, be it numbness and denial or priority on other stories, a lot of the media was slow to cover this. What could we do in ID to get beyond that obstacle?
It seems like there's only room in the national media for one tragedy at a time. This time around it's been the Malaysia Flight 370 mystery. But as one story fades, another rises, and there is much more focus on the Oso tragedy now. These days, much has to do with how many Tweets trend toward a certain story...so if one uses Twitter, one could post updates with the #Oso or #Mudslide (or #OsoMudslide) hashtags.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-27-2014, 09:47 PM
 
8,440 posts, read 13,383,661 times
Reputation: 6289
Default Bonneville High School's Effort to Help

If anyone saw the very brief news story and has a link, please share it

One who has not been recovered in Oso is the son of a Bonneville High School teacher. BHS is having some type of fund raiser tomorrow to help.

If you know more, PLEASE post the info here.

TY for your help!

msr

Last edited by Mtn. States Resident; 03-27-2014 at 09:52 PM.. Reason: Teacher's son not recovered.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Idaho
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top