Washington: No one wants to think about, talk about, regulate, plan for: landslides

During the first two weeks of the month, the intense storms pelted the already saturated ground in western Washington, triggering at least 1,500 landslides that damaged or destroyed an estimated 200 homes, buried sections of 150 roadways and contributed to thousands of people seeking safety in emergency shelters.

Get full text; support writer, producer of the words:
http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2009/03/19/19greenwire-growing-problem-remains-largely-ignored-despit-10221.html

President Obama designated 23 counties in the state as federal
disaster areas, and FEMA to date has handed out more than $7 million
to homeowners for temporary housing and home repair or replacement.
“This was definitely a big event,” Norman said. “You’re talking about
a significant number of landslides across the state.” The destruction
highlights the often overlooked danger posed by landslides, one of the
nation’s most costly natural disasters, responsible for as much as
$3.5 billion in damages and 50 deaths each year.

Sudden storms trigger the most dangerous and spectacular landslides, called “debris flows,” which are characterized by subsurface failures that loosen soil and everything on top of it, including rocks, trees and buildings. Such slides are capable of moving downhill at 100 miles per hour or faster, officials say. Experts say difficult situations will continue until efforts to map landslide activity and areas of high risk are ramped up at the state or federal level. Some states have begun doing this, including Washington, Utah and North Carolina.

USGS is working on a landslide inventory pilot project with these states,  as well as with California, Kentucky, New Jersey and Oregon. One of the principal components of the effort is to map areas where landslides have already occurred. That is significant because “if the  land has moved once, it has a higher potential of moving again,” said  Scott Burns, the Portland State University geologist.

Following catastrophic landslides in 1996 and 1997, the city of Seattle obtained federal grants allowing USGS to map hazardous landslide areas. City and the federal agents also developed an early-warning system that alerts residents when conditions are right for slides, said Bill Benzer, landslide mitigation manager for Seattle Public Utilities. The city has used the data to steer new development away from troublespots, or to mandate soil stabilization measures in at-risk areas where building does occur. But most of the rest of the country lives with the incalculable risk of a catastrophe.

“When someone applies for a building permit, they assume that if they get it, the house is safe,” Burns said. “But there’s no information on landslides. There’s no way to know whether there’s a chance the house you’re building is going to slide down a hill, or that something one day is going to slide into it.”

Get full text; support writer, producer of the words:
http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2009/03/19/19greenwire-growing-problem-remains-largely-ignored-despit-10221.html