Washington State Tragedy Time and Unforseen Occurance

yeh, that's the sad part. When the USGS or a state geo survey is commissioned to do these studies, they always come up with good info and recommendations. WHY THE HELL ARE THEY ALWAYS IGNORED?? I have no idea.

I could write a book about the gazillions of cases that occur where folks ignore good info nd then try to claim ignorance in resulting lawsuits. You watch how many insurance companies will try to slip from paying claims based in that knowledge.

that's gross Walter, was that a coal bnk rupture? It looks like some man made stuff that went off the reservation

Of course, I always got a kick out of the "Bergeputzen" (I hope that was right). They were the "Mountain Brushers" in Salzburg, and these guys would rope all along the upper cliffs to inspect the rock crack and then theyd dislodge small chunks of cleavage before they became big ones and would kill people below

No, similar to what happened in Washington: it came down the mountains, walls of mud hit the area.

It's very nearly correct. "Bergputzer" is the term. It's a guild in Salzburg since 1669, but a profession already since 1574.

Today:

24 confirmed dead according to heraldnet.com. There were 49 homes in the Steelhead Lane development, if I have my figures right. There had to have been many more than 24 at home 11 am Saturday. I try to put myself in the minds of those families and those rescue workers. After a few minutes, I just have to turn to something else. . .

Of the few victims yet identified, I have yet to see any familiar last names. But among the rescue wokers I recognize several. Coroner is being extremely careful about publishing names. A good thing, I believe, although those seeking closure are no doubt in anguish.
For those desiring to help, one reliable source is mynorthwest.com. Click on 'How to help'. A list of reputable organizations will appear.
For an easy to understand before and after link, I suggest http://www.weather.com/news/interactive-after-washington-landslide-20140323

You know it is interesting. I've been watching this interesting sun weather data site and they have been following earth quakes and sun spot activity and there is a correlation. They are so certain that they are connected that they believe they will be able to predict earth quake activity based on collecting sun weather data daily.

They even go into explaining how the sun could possibly effect the earth's movement. It has to do with the sun's magnetic field. It is extremely complicated to explain everything here but really the sun is a twisted magnet. The middle layer of the sun spins faster than it's outer edges which causes the magnet to snap when the poles stretch too far. So depending on how active the sun is we can get shifts in magnetic fields which stretch farther out than the earths orbit they now think which impacts crust movement on the earth.

They have been seeing a massive increase in the last few months of solar activity and were saying watch for magnitude 6 quakes and the entire rim starting from north south america up to washington state and into canada have seen fault movement picking up.

Although they think there is a correlation it still doesn't explain how exactly the earth's crust is effected by a shift in the sun's magnetic field.

Still, after seeing the way Steelhead Drive neighborhood was located, I would never have moved there. I know Washington weather all too well.

Wait until Mount Rainier blows.

A significant portion of Seattle's suburbs (about 100,000 people or so) are built directly in a major Lahar kill zone.

I think about that every time I drive south on I-5. It is a beautiful peak . . . . .

The USGS reports for volcano hazards are included within the ALgermissen hazard maps for quakes. They present a range with the worst damage zones clearly mapped. YET, all the People in charge of issuing building permits and approving plans for development seem to have their heads up their asses and issue approvals and permits just the same(almost always without any information that the officials may have from the geologists reports). Ive been involved in several insurance claims cases for these "acts of god" claims and the insurance companies are pushing back on coverage since the late 80's.
If a volcanism risk exists, proving that "We dint know" transferred several cases from the insurance carriers to the developers (Whose own insurance companies pushed back since many of them were the same damn carriers that sold policies to the homeowners).

So often the best defense for a homeowner whose suffered a catastrophic loss in a known hzard area is a heads up version of;
"Well why the hell did you sell me a policy if I was expected to know the hazard"? (That's gotten the planning boards and county engineers inb=volved in the cases besides the insurance carriers)
"Why did you keep this a secret from me?"

>

And your story shifts depending on who's paying you, eh, Farmer?

A few statistics:

Debris field 80 feet deep in places. Some will undoubtedly never be found.

The entire slide moved a full mile in only 3 seconds!

30 confirmed dead. Fewer than 20 still listed as missing. Considering the 49 homes and unknown vehicles involved, could that be called good fortune?

maybe now the politicians will try to work more closely with the scientists an engineers, but again, maybe not.

The upper "cleft" (above the slip zone) will now be watched carefully for any movement and desiccation cracking that could fill with water and become another deadly slip zone with even more topographic head pressure.

Maybe Id make a big pasture out of the area, in which Id plant lots of kudzu to help stabilize it a bit. Theres really nothing that can be effectively done to stabilize this . A huge headwall to hold back the hill would be ineffective under severe stresses that torrential rains produce

Farmer: Id plant lots of kudzu

Dumb idea.

Could you post a link to that site? I'd like to take a look at it.

USGS says its a non-starter. Heres a paper. Love states that "Skepticism is always needed in science, but when evidence is strong against your claim, its like the beliefs of the conspiracy theorists"
He compares the 9/11 "theorists " with the Herschel worldview.
The scientists who looked at sunspots/ v earthquakes and /v crop
effects found no correlations at all.

Another big slide in the Jackson Hole Wyo area. I believe it could be related to the Snake River Plain hotspot.
Heres a shot of the hillside as its slowly tearing some houses apart. It may start moving faster as it gets more and more unstable. Then watch out. I hope they are evacking people now.

Glad you mentioned that. With all the earthquake activity in Oklahoma, Idaho and Yellowstone areas, and now these slides, I have been wondering if this is a sign of magma activity in the Yellowstone cauldra.

Have there been any reports of changes in geyser activities or the lake temperatures? I don't recall seeing any.

Seems like the continents are actively continuing their drift the past few months with major quakes everywhere except North America's pacific coast. We've mostly had small slippage quakes, nothing major.

As the continents are moving, the hotspot must also be moving further across Wyoming.