Oso Landslide

[mkarch]

Originally Posted by miu

In hindsight, whenever there is extra rainfall (such as double the average amount), geologists should be taking samples and testing for how soggy the ground conditions are on residential mountainsides and local government officials give warnings to evacuate.

The area hit out by Oso isn't residential in any sense other than people decided to build homes there. If state money was used to test every area someone has or might build a house, either it will be a lot harder to obtain permits to build on millions of acres of rural land or the costs will be prohibitive. There are likely many rural owners that would be very irritated if their properties were declared unfit or unsafe to build on because the land can't be "certified" safe. In the case of areas near rivers, the landslide and flood risk changes as the river channel moves. An event like the one last weekend may over time have put a different hillside at risk of collapse, while reducing the risk for another.

[509]

Originally Posted by NoNansea

.................That 1997-1999 report was done for the Army Corps of Engineers & The Tullalip Tribe from what I read. I suspect there was a lack of communication as far as alerting a city council or planning dept who would have been the ones to deny building on that area. Even with the slide of 2006, it appears no current building approval entity was made aware of that report.

Because families continued to live there & new homes were allowed to be built, doesn't make this disaster any less tragic. I believe it when officials state that no one saw this (to this extent) coming. We all know planes crash but most of us continue to travel by air. I offer a prayer for those suffering and hurting from this event.

I believe that report was done on fisheries impacts. So the geologist was tasked with looking at fish impacts not human impacts. It appears that he did notice that hazard, but really it was his "professional opinion". Now that is worth quite a bit, but it is NOT the same as a professional report that speaks to the hazard to humans rather than fish.

My comment about a meeting area was for immediate family. We are/were in a situation where a fast moving fire could easily find the entire family away from home and unable to return home due to the fire.

We were to meet at my office a little more than a half mile from the house. It was in a safe location. Anyway, having a designated meeting space does help. Particularly, if it is a place where the folks know you and your family.

I lived through the eruption of St. Helens in 1980. I lived in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. In Spokane, it took three days for the emergency broadcast system to come up and that same amount of time to decide who was in charge of the emergency. It was a mess.

Spokane fixed their emergency response system after that. It was functioning in 1992 with Spokane FireStorm and I notice that they have kept it up since then.

Unfortunately, I think western Washington is much less prepared for an emergency. It is getting better over there, but they have a long way to go before they are as prepared as counties in eastern Washington. They are doing better, more folks are showing up on fires in eastern Washington so at least they are getting some actual experience in management of large disasters.

However, when I see the city of Seattle deal with a snowstorm in a effective manner then I will quit worrying about my daughter that lives in Seattle. As I told her, you don't live in Chelan County anymore. You need to be ready to deal with the emergency by yourself.

[Ghengis]

Originally Posted by miu

...In hindsight, whenever there is extra rainfall (such as double the average amount), geologists should be taking samples and testing for how soggy the ground conditions are on residential mountainsides and local government officials give warnings to evacuate.....

Originally Posted by miu

Yes. Why not raise awareness and get residents of such areas to use their brain and observational skills to learn to be concerned when rainfall conditions are so much above average? 15" of rainfall when the average amount is 7" in March should be very concerning to any resident living in an area like Oso.

People can't rely on their governments to protect in these situations. Learning to read Mother Nature is an important life survival skill.

which is it?

[miu]

Originally Posted by Ghengis

which is it?

My point is that after many weeks of extra heavy rainfall, the Oso residents should have been really worried about the possibility of a mudslide occurring.

And as to not relying on government authorities to sound the alarm bell, well people just need to use their commonsense more and not throw all the blame at the government authorities for this tragedy (not issuing a warning for the increased mudslide potential, allowing people to build and live there).

[TrueTimbers]

We all need to remember...
"Hindsight is 20/20"