NW Mudslide Season 2013-14

[montana mike]

The weather forecast for the Pacific NW improves as the week goes on, hopefully allowing things to dry out some!

 

[CHamilton]

WSDOT report sheds light on landslide-plagued Sounder North Line

MUKILTEO -- A new state report outlining the troubles and possible solutions for recurring mudslides on the 26-mile stretch of train tracks between Seattle and Everett suggests increased grants and spending my homeowners could help keep the vital line clear.

The study, completed by the Washington State Department of Transportation, also points out the line operator, Burlington Northern, has spent millions to try and keep land from sliding onto the tracks.

Inside the "Landslide Mitigation Action Plan", the state determined there have been around 900 slides in the area between Seattle and Everett since 1914.

During the fall and winter of 2012-13, BNSF spent more than $4 million to clear the lines of landslide debris, the most ever.

Amtrak, which shares the railroad, had 81 trip 'annulments' from landslides, while Sound Transit's North Sounder Line lost 206 scheduled trips and nearly 30 days of usage.

The report highlights eight 'strategies' to reduce landslides. In the immediate future, homeowners can take advantage of incentives such as lowered permit fees to stabilize their property. BNSF plans to continue to monitor the line, and a $16.1 million federal grant is expected to pay for rail protection measures in six different spots.

WSDOT's Landslide Mitigation Action Plan is available from their website (PDF).

 

[neroden]

I still think the route along the, ahem, "Burke-Gilman Trail" and the inland line north from there should be restored. But I realize that that doesn't currently have a snowball's chance in hell. Instead, money will keep being poured into the hopeless line-on-the-water.

 

[CHamilton]

From Sound Transit on Twitter: "All Northline Sounder service between Everett and Seattle is canceled for Monday 3/10/14 and Tuesday 3/11/14 due to another mudslide that occurred on Sunday evening." This will affect the Cascades and Empire Builder between Seattle and Everett.

 

[CHamilton]

Interesting tidbit from the Sound Transit Twitter feed.

Work underway thx to $16 m from feds. 2 of 6 projects done but w/35 cliff miles, long way to go. Sounder still 97% on time.

 

[neroden]

Interesting tidbit from the Sound Transit Twitter feed.

Work underway thx to $16 m from feds. 2 of 6 projects done but w/35 cliff miles, long way to go. Sounder still 97% on time.

Yeah, but the 97% is mostly the South Line, which is much, much less slide-prone. I'd like to see the numbers for the North Line.

 

[CHamilton]

Mudslide slows BNSF rail service north of Seattle

SEATTLE (AP) — A mudslide late Sunday night has temporarily cut rail service on BNSF tracks north of Seattle.

BNSF spokesman Gus Melonas says the slide of mud, trees and debris struck about 11 p.m. between Seattle and Edmonds.

He says crews are working on the slide and expect to have freight trains rolling through the area again by early Monday morning.

But Melonas says that passenger trains between Seattle and Everett are barred from using the tracks for 48 hours to ensure they're stable.

 

[montana mike]

Spring can't come soon enough. I hope this season's construction projects in this area focus on where these mudslides have occurred this winter!

 

[CHamilton]

An interesting comment, referring to the state report linked from post 77 of this thread:

The report is clear that where landslides have occurred once, they are likely to occur again.

Looking to the future, the report also states "interruption-free service from landslides is likely not achievable or affordable."

Also, the new report tells us, "Currently, there is no long-term source of public funds for capital improvements to proactively address landslide-prone slopes."

 

[fairviewroad]

Mudslide slows BNSF rail service north of Seattle

SEATTLE (AP) — A mudslide late Sunday night has temporarily cut rail service on BNSF tracks north of Seattle.

BNSF spokesman Gus Melonas says the slide of mud, trees and debris struck about 11 p.m. between Seattle and Edmonds.

He says crews are working on the slide and expect to have freight trains rolling through the area again by early Monday morning.

But Melonas says that passenger trains between Seattle and Everett are barred from using the tracks for 48 hours to ensure they're stable.

Coincidentally, some of the passengers affected by this would have been bussed anyhow, since trains 510/517 are being

swapped for busses along their entire route today due to previously scheduled BNSF trackwork.

 

[CHamilton]

Mudslide stops passenger trains north of Seattle

SEATTLE — A mudslide Tuesday morning just south of Everett will stop passenger rail service between Seattle and Everett until Thursday morning.

BNSF spokesman Gus Melonas says the 7:20 a.m. 20-foot-long slide of trees, mud and rocks has been cleared off the tracks and freight trains are moving again.

For safety reasons, Amtrak and Sound Transit trains will not be allowed on the tracks until 7:20 a.m. Thursday.

That extends a moratorium on passenger rail through the corridor put in place after a slide Sunday night north of Seattle.

Melonas says Tuesday's slide was the 12th this fall and winter.

 

[montana mike]

One would think eventually all the mud and junk that is up on the top of the various hillsides would have finally moved from Point A to Point B!!!!! It's not as if "new stuff" is being added to the top of these hills!!

))

 

[CHamilton]

It's more a matter that homeowners, in order to create views of Puget Sound, have been building fancy houses, and removing trees and vegetation that has kept the hillsides stable in the past.

 

[CHamilton]

Hmm, we seem to have lost Seattle-Everett service on Thursday now as well.

Northline Sounder canceled for Thursday, buses to fill in

Northline Sounder service between Everett and Seattle is canceled Thursday because of a mudslide, according to Sound Transit.

Sound Transit will provide special buses with direct service to and from Northline Sounder stations, in addition to local bus service....

Regular train service is expected to resume Friday for the morning commute.

 

[CHamilton]

This does not affect train travel, but is sad news nonetheless.

3 die in mudslide east of Arlington, 6 homes destroyed

OSO, Snohomish County — At least three people have been killed and nearly a dozen injured Saturday when a wall of mud crashed into a half-dozen homes east of Arlington, according to the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office.
At least six houses were destroyed when the mud slammed into the homes and cascaded over state Highway 530 four miles east of the town of Oso, said Lt. Rodney Rochon, head of the sheriff’s special operations. Authorities are unsure exactly how many homes were damaged and are searching for additional victims....
Snohomish County has been saturated with rain this month, establishing the kind of unstable terrain that can lead to mudslides, said Johnny Burg, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

The weather service doesn’t keep statistics for the town of Oso, but it does for Arlington, which is about 12 miles southwest. As of Wednesday — the last day for which the weather service has a report — Arlington had recorded 7.14 inches of rain for the month. That’s just 2 inches shy of the wettest March on record for Arlington, and that total, 9.23 inches, was for the entire month.

Darrington, another town not far from Oso, received close to an inch of rain on Wednesday alone, Burg said.

 

[CHamilton]

News about the Oso mudslide just gets worse. Here's an interesting discussion of why we get mudslides.

Local geology, recent heavy rains likely factors in Oso mudslide

 

[CHamilton]

I hate to say it, but I bet that the Oso mudslide has destroyed any chance of BNSF shortening the 48-hour moratorium on passenger rail service after mudslides on the tracks, at least in the short term.

In the longer term, though, the raised public awareness of the issue may make it possible to

• Find more money for mudslide mitigation.
• Make local governments take seriously the need for regulations designed to prevent tree removal and other actions that destabilize slopes.
• Encourage property owners in vulnerable areas to relocate.

 

[fairviewroad]

I hate to say it, but I bet that the Oso mudslide has destroyed any chance of BNSF shortening the 48-hour moratorium on passenger rail service after mudslides on the tracks, at least in the short term.

You're right, but the real trick is predicting the slides in advance. Since the initial Oso mudslide, has any additional earth moved in that area? No. So a 48-hour post-slide moratorium would have made no difference there.

 

[neroden]

Clearly, BNSF should use time travel to issue a 48-hour moratorium BEFORE every slide.

Yeah, I agree, the "moratorium" afterwards makes little sense. Unfortunately, what would make sense would be to issue a moratorium every time there are heavy rains. That wouldn't be good for the schedule.

The only option here is heavy construction to prevent future slides, either on this route or another route.

 

[CHamilton]

Seattle sets record for all-time wettest March

A soggy day at the Seattle's Space Needle. (Photo courtesy: Brendan Ramsey)

SEATTLE -- We all know it's been a soggy month of March. Now we have the trophy to prove it.
The rains Friday were enough to set the record for the all-time wettest March in Seattle history.
That's not just Sea-Tac Airport,which goes back to 1945, but also far and away surpasses anything the Downtown Federal Building measured in its years from 1891-1972.

As of 3 p.m. Friday, Seattle sat at 8.47 inches of rain for the month, breaking the old Sea-Tac record of 8.40" in 1950, and shattering the Federal Building record of 7.23" of rain set that same year.
March now goes down as the wettest month since November 2012.

 

[The Davy Crockett]

Seattle sets record for all-time wettest March

Charlie, and other foamers living in the not-so-Pacific Noethwest,

Now that Spring weather is approaching and the rains are in theory winding down this crazy winter, do you think the work done by BNSF last year helped?

 

[CHamilton]

Charlie, and other foamers living in the not-so-Pacific Noethwest,

Now that Spring weather is approaching and the rains are in theory winding down this crazy winter, do you think the work done by BNSF last year helped?

Generally, yes, but there wasn't as much stress on the hillsides until recently, since until a few weeks ago, we have had a very dry winter. And AFAIK, all of this year's slides happened in locations where no work had yet been done. So I am cautiously optimistic that the work so far has helped, but we won't really know until we get another very wet winter like we had in 2012-13.

 

[The Davy Crockett]

Charlie, and other foamers living in the not-so-Pacific Noethwest,

Now that Spring weather is approaching and the rains are in theory winding down this crazy winter, do you think the work done by BNSF last year helped?

Generally, yes, but there wasn't as much stress on the hillsides until recently, since until a few weeks ago, we have had a very dry winter. And AFAIK, all of this year's slides happened in locations where no work had yet been done. So I am cautiously optimistic that the work so far has helped, but we won't really know until we get another very wet winter like we had in 2012-13.

Thanks for the response, Mr. H. :hi:

Lets hope your cautious optimism is correct, and that the work has helped, so things do improve overall as more work is done.

Land use laws in this country will make trying to put controls on the hillsides above the tracks a VERY expensive proposition, so hopefully hillside stabilization will help. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out. I can say 'interesting' because I don't ride the Cascades often.

 

[CHamilton]

A former Seattle city councilmember posts on Facebook. The BNSF tracks that Amtrak uses are not particularly vulnerable in the city of Seattle itself, but the report (PDF) may be of interest.

Peter Steinbrueck


Yesterday at 5:10pm ·

One of the lessons of tragic Oso landslide is that many citizens did not know the risks and vulnerabilities of the area. Seattle is the "most graded" city in North America .Since 1890 there have been 1,433 recorded landslide events. A 2006 LIDAR Mapping Study of Seattle's landslides provides 1) Inventory Map of Seattle Landslides; 2) Landslide Susceptibility Map, and 3) Evaluation of Result and Causation. The study found human activity to be responsible for 80 % of Seattle's landslides in recent times. The 2006 study also notes that current Seattle Land Use Zoning demonstrates a poor understanding of landslide prone areas of the city.

 

[CHamilton]

Mukilteo residents worry about record rains, consider landslide insurance

MUKILTEO, Wash. — Residents in mudslide-prone areas said the deadly mudslide in Oso and recent record rains have them concerned about a similar event.
"With all the rains that we're all aware of, record-setting rains, something's got to move," Wally Trana said, surveying the hillside below his backyard. Far below his home on Marine View Drive in Mukilteo, the Burlington Northern Santa Fe tracks provide a route for Amtrak and Sounder trains....

Trana's experience with smaller slides isn't limited to the cliff overlooking the tracks. About 20 years ago, the land collapsed on his home's north side.

He said the insurance company paid to install two concrete walls to help reinforce the land.

Trana said it also told him that his insurance would not cover slides in the future....

Trana said the insurance, with its added expense, isn't a priority....

Trana and his neighbor, Carl Larsen, have seen the railroad test the soil. It's also invested in some slide prevention and monitors.

But both hope BNSF will take new, additional steps....

By March 7, BNSF had counted nine mudslides blocking the tracks north of Seattle this season, compared to 60 the year before.

This is the wettest March since records began at SeaTac Airport in 1948, surpassing the old record rainfall in 1950.