The stories you want. The opinions that matter.
No, thanks
Tag: mudslide
California Storm Was A Nearly 500-Year Event, Officials Say

California Storm Was A Nearly 500-Year Event, Officials Say

By Joseph Serna, Louis Sahagun, and Matt Hansen, Los Angeles Times

A tropical rain storm that caused deadly floods and destructive mudslides in California’s San Gabriel Mountains on Sunday was the kind of weather event seen only once about every 500 years, the National Weather Service said.

Starting at about 2:45 p.m., the storm dropped nearly 4 inches of rain onto Mt. Baldy in a single hour, triggering mudslides and floods that killed one motorist and severely damaged more than 30 homes.

The deluge also cut off the community of Forest Falls after mudslides of up to 10-feet high buried the town’s lone road connecting it to California 38. San Bernardino County firefighters were still assessing the damage Monday and Tuesday, but said about 100 buildings had sustained damage.

Roughly 60 structures took some sort of hit to their exteriors, while six sustained moderate or major structural damage, officials said. Three outbuildings — another term for a shack — were completely destroyed. Two dogs were also killed in Sunday’s deluge.

At Mt. Baldy, 33 homes sustained moderate to major structural damage, said firefighter Chris Prater. At least six of the homes were red-tagged, meaning they were uninhabitable, officials said.
The community of Highland was also damaged by flash flooding.

The rain and subsequent floods overwhelmed area-washes, creeks, and roads. A 48-year-old El Segundo man, Joo Hwan Lee, was killed when his vehicle went off a mountain road and into a creek Sunday.

Forecasters said that at times the rain was likely so thick, drivers would have been unable to see far in front of them.

Residents said they couldn’t believe the storm’s fury.

At Forest Falls, Doug Roath, 48, recalled hearing a roar above his house after a half-hour of rain. He evacuated to higher ground and brought a family of nearby hikers with him. From above, they watched the rocky slurry crash into his home.

“It had us surrounded. These people had two little kids with them and asked if they were going to die,” he said. “My doghouse with my dogs in it was just spinning in a whirlpool.”

Roath rescued the dogs when the flood eased. He spent Monday sifting through the sediment, picking up belongings. Community members helped him dig out, and town residents have offered him financial help and housing.

The storm was the product of an “orographic flow” — when moisture-saturated air is pushed up by a mountain’s natural topography and is squeezed like a sponge. A wave of tropical air blown north from Central America gave the storm extra ammunition, climatologists said.

Photo via WikiCommons

Interested in national news? Sign up for our daily email newsletter!

‘Active Search’ Ends For Mudslide’s Last Two Victims

‘Active Search’ Ends For Mudslide’s Last Two Victims

By Jack Broom, The Seattle Times

SEATTLE — The brother of one of the two people still missing in the Washington state mudslide said he understands and accepts Snohomish County officials’ decision to greatly scale back the search.

“The amazing thing is that of 43 people who were lost, 41 were found,” said Frank Hadaway of Puyallup, one of three brothers of Steve Hadaway, of Darrington.

“So do I have an issue? No. Reality is reality,” Frank Hadaway said. “We knew this day was coming sooner or later.”

Snohomish County Sheriff Ty Trenary on Monday said the county has ended the “active search” for the victims of the March 22 mudslide that killed at least 41 people and covered Highway 530 near Oso.

It was a difficult decision, Trenary said, but the search will now be made as weather conditions allow and where evidence indicates the remains of the last two missing people — Hadaway, 53, and Kris Regelbrugge, 44 — might be. Regelbrugge was home and Hadaway was doing work at a house when the slide struck.

Operationally, that means the search effort that drew 900 to 1,000 people each day at its height is down to about 30, Trenary said. More searchers could return if specific evidence is found indicating a victim might be nearby.

Monday’s announcement also means that most of the workers from various offices and agencies supporting the search will be sent back to their regular assignments.

Asked if the decision to cut back the search was accepted by the families of Hadaway and Regelbrugge, Trenary would say only that he has talked to a number of victims’ families since the slide occurred, and will not discuss those conversations.

Calls by The Seattle Times to relatives of Regelbrugge on Monday were not returned.

Recent wet weather has complicated the search and increased danger to searchers, Trenary said.

The sheriff acknowledged there is a possibility the final two bodies will not be recovered. However, he stressed the search will continue, far more limited in scope and manpower. “We’re now at a smaller scale … searching a much smaller area,” Trenary said.

He said deciding to scale back the search was difficult because “we know Kris (Regelbrugge) and Steve (Hadaway)’s families are both looking for closure.” Hadaway’s body is believed to be in a deep pool that will need to be drained before further searching is practical, Trenary said.

The Snohomish County Medical Examiner’s Office has identified the remains of all 41 slide victims it has received.

As debris removal continues, spotters in the field will work alongside heavy-equipment operators to identify personal property. An active search could resume if conditions change, allowing access to areas that were previously inaccessible, according to a news release.

Also Monday, Snohomish County Executive John Lovick said the county and state are working to set up an independent commission to review actions taken — and not taken — in the slide area before and after the slide.

The review presumably will examine whether the county took adequate steps to warn residents after previous slides, and if the response to the disaster proceeded as quickly as it should have.

In addition, the county will open a long-term recovery center in Darrington this week to offer services to those affected by the slide. Gary Haakenson, the county’s executive director for public safety, will lead the multifaceted recovery effort.

Haakenson said that work will focus on eight key themes for recovery: economic, housing, health, community planning, infrastructure, natural/cultural, social, and Highway 530 itself.

In the slide, a mammoth stretch of hillside fell near Oso, between Arlington and Darrington, and spread across the North Fork of the Stillaguamish River, covering houses and a stretch of the highway. President Barack Obama, who viewed the slide area last week, announced $7.5 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help Snohomish County with the disaster’s costs.

A “primitive” one-lane road around the Highway 530 slide area was to open at midnight Monday, according to the Washington State Department of Transportation.

The two-mile route is intended for local residents, although drivers will not need to show ID.

Vehicles will travel behind pilot cars, and no stops will be allowed. State troopers will be stationed on each end of the restricted section.

Travis Phelps, Transportation Department spokesman, said caravans will be led through the area in the westbound direction every hour on the hour, and eastbound every hour on the half-hour.

The roadway, which has been used by Seattle City Light crews, is part dirt, part gravel and has some asphalt sections. It runs south of the debris field east of Oso. The road will be open 24 hours a day, but logging trucks will only be allowed through between 5 a.m. and 5 p.m.

Phelps said the state is studying what it will take to open Highway 530, but no target date to reopen is set. He said it’s not yet known how much work is needed to clear and repair the road and make the route safe.

Lindsey Wasson/Seattle Times/MCT

Obama To Visit Washington Mudslide To Pledge Support For Response

Obama To Visit Washington Mudslide To Pledge Support For Response

By Christi Parsons, Tribune Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama, on his way to a weeklong trip to Asia, is headed to Washington state Tuesday to survey damage from the mudslide and meet with survivors, first responders and local officials one month after the tragedy.

More than 40 people died in the disaster, which claimed more than two dozen homes on the outskirts of Oso, a small town an hour’s drive from Seattle. The medical examiner’s office is still working to identify victims of the devastation.

The visit will be Obama’s only domestic stop on his way to Asia, where he plans to talk about trade opportunities with foreign leaders and discuss the U.S. role in regional security. Nearly three years after vowing to shift the focus of U.S. foreign policy to Asia, Obama heads to the region to try to convince friends and rivals alike that he remains serious about that goal.

Obama is to meet with the heads of state in Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and the Philippines, deliver one major speech and take questions at no fewer than four news conferences. Obama was forced to cancel last fall’s visit to Asia when House Republicans forced a government shutdown.

Still, top White House advisors are worried about turning the president’s attention from domestic matters for too long. His visit to Washington state comes exactly a month after an unstable hill collapsed four miles outside Oso, bringing mud and debris crashing across the Stillaguamish River and covering nearly a square mile that included a rural neighborhood. As of Monday, 41 people were confirmed dead and others were still missing.

Obama plans to fly into Paine Field, the Snohomish County airport north of Seattle, shortly after noon local time and then deliver remarks at a firehouse. He is expected to pledge continued federal support for the response, a White House aide said. Earlier this month, Obama declared a major disaster in the state of Washington, ordering federal aid to supplement state, tribal and local recovery efforts.

Marcus Yam/Seattle Times/MCT

Local Volunteers Provide Help Like No Other At The Mudslide

Local Volunteers Provide Help Like No Other At The Mudslide

By Nancy Bartley, The Seattle Times

SEATTLE — Just before dark on the drizzling day, the long line of trucks came back. Windshield wipers clicking, headlights beaming, there were firetrucks, aid cars, flatbed trucks with bulldozers and dump trucks. Dozens of them moved slowly along Highway 530 from the mudslide to the Oso Fire Department.

“They’re coming in,” said Nikki Stinson, as she watched from her front yard. She walked back to the old farmhouse. In minutes, she could hear the stomp of boots and voices as the rescue workers peeled off fluorescent bunker gear, leaving chunks of blue-gray mud on the wraparound porch.

Ever since the March 22 mudslide killed about 20 percent of the village’s 180 people and left several more missing, Stinson, her husband, Corey, and their six children have been helping out. They’ve taken unpaid leave from jobs to “go out to the pile,” the swath of refuse-laden gray mud, moved boxes of donated items, kept the coffee pot going and housed visiting workers.

About 900 workers and 31 excavators remain at what is still a recovery operation. Among the workers is a cadre of locals — usually those with special skills — who volunteer. In the Oso and Darrington communities, most who live in the small houses along Highway 530 have fed or housed volunteer searchers and have gleaned the mounds of mud at the slide scene for human remains or personal possessions. Sometimes they find clues — a comic book, a toolbox, a toy — from how life used to be.

At this time last year, Oso was planning an Easter Egg Hunt, one of the many such events in the small community, where losing neighbors is losing family. The other day, volunteers back from the site warmed themselves at a burn barrel. Against the distant foothills, rolls of blue-black clouds gathered as the last rays of sun slid against wet grass. Smoke drifted from chimneys of houses scattered through the valley.

Next door to the Stinsons, Jeff Smith, 62, came home after working on an access road at the slide site. His wife, Teresa, stood out on the porch with their grandsons as slide traffic crawled past.

Teresa Smith, 61, grew up in their white farmhouse, where American and Marine Corps flags fly at half-staff. Heavy equipment and a flatbed truck are parked at the side.

The day of the slide, she was doing dishes when the lights blinked and her husband, an Oso Fire Department volunteer, was paged. There was a roof in the road and some flooding, something Jeff Smith thought would require putting up traffic cones. Nothing prepared any of them for what they found: a lunar landscape of gray where trees, homes and Highway 530 had been.

The community immediately rushed to the rescue, with the all-volunteer Oso Fire Department first on the scene.

While many out-of-town volunteers have left, a core group of local volunteers continues on — some giving full-time hours at the slide, others sandwiching volunteer time during days off from work.

“You just do what you have to do,” Teresa Smith said. “You don’t think about it.”

She has worked at the fire-station kitchen, which at one point was feeding 200 people a day. Jeff Smith volunteered his heavy equipment, despite the high cost of the diesel to operate it or the time it takes away from other jobs.

“We’re Oso. We just do it,” Teresa said. For her, it’s part of being in a community. It’s where she went to the historic white Oso School with its bell. It’s where she spent summers making money by picking raspberries down the road. It’s where she gossiped about boys with girlfriends along the beach at the creek that meanders through the valley.

At first, some of the volunteers from Oso and Darrington felt pushed out when crews from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) arrived a few days after the slide. Working in the piles of mud helped the locals cope with the loss of neighbors and friends, and the loggers familiar with the area argued they had local knowledge that out-of-towners didn’t. The contentiousness eventually subsided.

Teresa Smith praised FEMA’s John Bentley from Maryland for his kindness and efficiency. “He said we were like family.”

Nikki Stinson walked across the wet grass to Teresa’s house. Ron and Gail Thompson, who were away from home when the slide hit, were visiting. One of Nikki’s boys who worked at the slide recovered Ron’s toolbox — the entire thing flattened.

Nikki Stinson’s great-grandmother was born in a tent near the Oso Community Chapel. Nikki Stinson grew up in Arlington and moved back a few years ago. She, too, helps at the fire station. These days have brought everyone more into contact than ever before.

The old days when you could “pass through Oso and not know so” are over, she said.

Later, as Stinson’s family gathered around the table in the bright-blue dining room, Morgan Stinson, 18, talked about being at the slide and finding “cars completely mangled and then finding a quilt perfectly intact.”

He took time off from his work at a cabinet shop. “I feel I have to be out there,” he said. “This is my community.”

Lindsey Wasson/Seattle Times/MCT