Anyone watching the mud slide in Oregon?

[malaise]

Damn.

http://www.komotv.com/news/12369951.html

[TechBear_Seattle]

1. And there I thought you were talking about state politics

This is bad; at least southern Washington only got water and flooding.

[malaise]

2. LOL

Must be frightening to people living nearby. I hope the bridge survives but I sure wouldn't drive across it for a while.

[tekisui]

3. Holy shit.

I am willing to bet on clearcut logging in those mountains.

[malaise]

5. Lots of logs in the debris so I'm betting

you're right.

[tekisui]

8. see map here

three logging companies around Highway 30:

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=logging&near=Clatskanie,+OR&fb=1&sa=X&oi=local_group&resnum=1&ct=image

[TechBear_Seattle]

10. No bet

The general consensus is that the flooding in Washington two weeks ago was the direct result of clear-cutting and real estate development which destroyed the watershed. With the natural run-off channels gone and a storm-drainage system which was wholely inadequate, the only surprise was that the flooding was not much, much worse. And mind you, this was flooding that closed Interstate 5 and brought water up to the bottom of overhanging highway signs!

I am not at all surprised that similar problems are occuring elsewhere near the Pacific Northwest coast.

[Parche]

12. Oregon

Yes, I saw tons of logs on the 'Willamette Pacific' railroad go thru Beaverton in the last 2months
at least 20carloads each time, and almost every day.......so they are doing a lot of logging
west of here.........:hi:

[malaise]

13. Thanks for that n/t

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

11. Yup.

You can see it plain as day on google earth.

[Marrah_G]

4. Whoa.....................

I hope everyone was out of there. That looks scary as hell.

[MissB]

6. Reportedly no one was in either of the homes that slid onto the highway.

ODOT had been watching the area all morning as there was a debris jam that was likely to cause problems.

Slid slowly over 5 minutes..

[malaise]

7. Any word on the bridge? n/t

[MissB]

9. The local news sites aren't mentioning it in any way.

katu.com says:

State forestry officials had called for the measures less than an hour earlier after a nearby creek had become clogged with debris that was building under a railroad bridge upstream and showed signs of giving way.

As it came downhill, the slide surrounded several homes and crossed the highway and adjacent train tracks before emptying into the Westport Slough. Piles of logs littered the area.