Incredible video of houses in Norway sliding into the ocean on a mud layer.
Source: vgtv.no
Deadly mudslide in Sierra Leone
This photograph taken by the Associated Press captures the aftermath of a major mudslide in the nation of Sierra Leone on Monday of this week. At the time I’m writing this, the casualty toll is currently over 300 confirmed, and more are expected to be accounted for as the population sifts through that enormous pile of debris.
This shot shows how buildings at the edge of Freetown, the capitol of the state, are moving right up against hills at the edge of the city. Freetown reportedly has one of the highest annual precipitation rates in West Africa and this season is its wet season. As buildings are constructed up against the hills and even on them, they remove trees and disturb soil, creating the scenario that can trigger these deadly mudslides.
-JBB
Image source: AP Photo/ Manika Kamara http://bit.ly/2uMC1sk
Source: facebook.com
Mudflow in Stehekin, Washington
On the shores of Lake Chelan in a remote area of the state of Washington sits the city of Stehekin, a small town of 150 which is effectively only accessible by boat or floatplane. The town sits in an area mostly managed by the federal government, within the Lake Chelan National Recreation Area and just south of North Cascades National Park. Since the area is managed by the park service, we can share some of their impressive photos taken following a mudslide in this area. This photo shows what used to be a road.
A combination of large wildfires and large rainfalls triggered this particular slide. The mud poured through the town, carrying boulders and trees with it, eventually dumping out into Lake Chelan which sits at the bottom of the valley. Although several businesses were damaged, no one was injured in this slide.
-JBB
Image credit: National Park Service http://www.flickr.com/photos/northcascadesnationalpark/9695877144/in/set-72157635421195577
Source: facebook.com
Extreme weather in India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh
The tight spiral you see on this global map shows wind directions and speeds in a storm currently hugging the east coast of India. That tight spiral is the winds of Tropical Cyclone Roanu, the first named storm of this tropical cyclone season. The storm is currently marching up India’s coastline heading northeast and it has already caused a rash of severe weather and damage on the way.
First struck was the island nation of Sri Lanka. This storm dropped almost 40 centimeters of rain on some areas of the island, triggering a series of landslides and mudflows. The most damaging of these mudflows hit a populated area and currently nearly 200 people are missing. An estimated 130,000 people were evacuated from their homes as a result of the storm.
The slow moving cyclone is also triggering flooding in states along India’s East Coast, in some cases delivering months worth of rainfall in a single event. Water temperatures around India are particularly warm for this time of year, and as a consequence the storm is expected to strengthen slightly as it moves northeast prior to making landfall in Bangladesh and Myanmar over the weekend.
Another result of this storm’s circulation is found farther inland. The storm’s circulation is drawing air south that normally is found over deserts farther north. The city of Phalodi in northwest India just recorded the all-time high temperature ever recorded in the nation of India; a record 51°C (123.8°F). That broke a record that had stood since 1886.
-JBB
Image credit: http://bit.ly/23YXvw6
References: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-36327905 http://phys.org/news/2016-05-tropical-cyclone-01b-roanu.html http://bit.ly/1TiakSr http://bit.ly/1U36aYJ http://on.mash.to/1W53z6Q
Source: facebook.com
Overflight video of the end result of one of those mudslides like we saw in the last video, this one showing what happened where it crossed a road. Cars and trucks tossed around and buried beneath each other.
A year ago today (March 22, a Saturday morning) a hillslope near Oso, Washington, gave way after a particularly rainy spring. Rescue and recovery efforts took weeks, and 43 people were believed killed. A couple weeks ago, this new video emerged taken about 3 minutes after the slide by a driver who came upon the buried highway and pulled out her phone. It's almost eerie to note how quiet the scene is. There is no panic. A single chainsaw can be heard in the background, possibly starting to cut away debris. There's no dust cloud in the air (probably because the ground was so wet). The hill where the slide began is still cracking and falling down, but otherwise that is it.
Deadly mudslide in Washington This image, taken from an airplane, shows the best view I’ve seen of a mudslide just east of the town of Oso in rural, northwestern Washington State. The mudslide occurred at about 10:45 a.m. on the morning of Saturday, March 22nd along the Stillaguamish River. As of the time of this writing, there have been 8 people confirmed dead but today searchers stunned the press by reporting that the list of potential missing includes up to 108 names. The searchers stress that the list includes vague descriptions like “John who once lived in this neighborhood”, so the total of missing should not be immediately interpreted as a possible death toll. The mudslide hit 49 different lots containing property, at least ½ of which were believed to be occupied full time, and buried Highway 530 – the only route to a nearby town of 1,359 called Darrington. The slide also completely blocked the Stillaguamish River, reducing its output to a trickle. When landslides occur, they can completely block rivers, creating lakes behind them that eventually overtop the dam leading to a major flood. Flood warnings have been issued on the river, but most likely some degree of digging/dredging will open up a flow path to let the water slowly pass through. The rocks that collapsed appear to be loosely-consolidated, possibly-glacial sediments. Similar events are common in this area; the state of Washington recently completed a $13 million project to stabilize a portion of hillslope on the opposite side of the river from this slide. Additionally, this area has endured significant rainfalls over the past several weeks, although there was no specific storm right before this slide. Instead, the amount of rain caused buildup of groundwater pressures in the area, and eventually this groundwater pressure allowed the hillslope to give way. Rainfall totals during the month of March in this area are about 300% above the average totals for the month. Layering in the disrupted central block appears somewhat intact and can be seen in this photo; the slide broke away along an arcuate scarp and left debris piles that are reportedly up to 4.5 meters (15 feet) thick. From here, search teams will have to simply dig through significant portions of that sediment to try to locate and identify those missing, in addition to digging through that big pile of dirt to prevent flooding on the river. -JBB Image credit: Washington State DOT via Reuters/NBC http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/deadly-mudslide/washington-mudslide-toll-rises-eight-least-18-missing-n59981 Read more: http://blogs.agu.org/landslideblog/2014/03/23/oso-landslide-1/ http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/03/140324-mudslides-natural-disasters-geology-science/ http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2014/03/24/oso_wash_mudslide_climate_change_may_bring_more_such_disasters.html http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/23/us/washington-landslide/ http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-washington-mudslide-108-missing-search-20140324,0,7984706.story#axzz2wu5DV3ch http://www.stltoday.com/news/national/voices-crying-for-help-stop-in-washington-mudslide/article_7802d13b-177e-5bff-9ec3-117f9dd494e5.html