I saw this video a few weeks back on The Landslide Blog, and it’s also been posted on GeoEngineer.org. It’s well worth the watch. It’s one of the scariest debris flow videos I’ve seen. Some hikers are crossing a channel cut naturally through old debris flow deposits, like a hiker bowling alley. Fortunately the guides hear it coming and everyone manages to get out of the channel before the latest debris flow roars through! [Source: YouTube via Dave’s Landslide Blog. Image: YouTube]
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Landslide Blocks Road in LA, Inconveniences UCLA Hoops Fans
Mud and debris from a small landslide closed a portion of Sepulveda Blvrd. In Westwood California on Thursday. The slide took out at least one local resident’s backyard and was large enough to block several lanes of the roadway with debris up to 6-ft high in addition to knocking out several power poles and disrupting service. The material was cleared up by 10pm but not before it cause some inconvenience to UCLA basketball fans on their way to watch their team beat Stanford. The LA Times reports that there were questions about possible broken water lines, of course it is the old "chicken or the egg" argument that’s been seen before (including on a recent landslide) about whether the broken water lines contributed to the landslide, or the landslide caused the water line breaks. (Photo by Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
Landslide Videos from Brazil
Dr. Dave has posted links to a few scary landslide videos from the recent heavy rains affecting the Santa Catarina province of Brazil. This latest one shows an ambulance being swept off a road by a “small” landslide. The ease with which the vehicle is moved is quite impressive. It didn’t appear that anyone was injured in this particular landslide but I’m sure there might have been some underwear changing involved. Elsewhere in the region people have not been so lucky and there is a heavy death toll. Click through for two videos.