A massive landslide covered California’s famous Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) in 35 to 45 feet of soil and rock over a distance of 1,500 feet. Caltrans is calling the landslide ‘one of a kind’ and one of the biggest in the State’s recorded history, and ‘…by far the worst we have ever seen‘. Wired Magazine has a great before and after picture to view the magnitude of this massive landslide. The slide is also being called the Mud Creek slide. It cuts off the southern route into the popular tourist destination called Big Sur. The latest information is that the highway could be closed for months, possibly even more than 1 year. [Source: More info at SFist via AEG Insider. Image: John Madonna, Associated Press via SF Chronicle]
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Judge Rules City of San Diego Not Responsible for Mt. Soledad Landslide in 2007
The Mt. Soledad Landslide in a La Jolla California neighborhood destroyed 3 houses and damaged others and it also shut down Mt. Soledad Road for an entire year after it occurred in October of 2007. Residents blamed the city of San Diego, and 65 homeowners filed suit, claiming that leaking pipes caused the landslide and the City should cover damages.
Last week, a superior court judge ruled in favor of the City of San Diego. So far I have not seen anything indicating if the residents plan to appeal the ruling.
One interesting note regarding the trial, the City released an 8-minute cell phone video taken by a geotechnical engineer or drilling contractor employed by the City that showed the road cracking and buckling just prior to failure. The homeowners used the video to try to make their own case. Click through for a portion of the video and a link to the full one.
Massive Landslide in Xinmo, Sichuan Province
Landslide Video But Not What You Think
There is nothing funny about landslides, particularly when you consider the tremendous loss of life that happens all the time around the world, most recently in Taiwan, China, Sierra Leone and elsewhere. But the well known humor site, the Onion has taken a pretty good crack at this usually unfunny subject in their video “news” clip Reporter In Helicopter Pretty Sure Landslide Down There Somewhere. Its a very amusing video that’s really about journalists and their attempts to get the scoop about a story, not really about landslides at all. Click through for the embedded video. Happy weekend. […]