Another El Nino storm just moved through Southern California culminating in significant rainfall on Saturday producing mudslides and debris flows in the area hit by this past September’s Station Fire. More after the break. (Photo from Sacramento Bee, David McNew – Getty Images)
This is definitely the season for landslides, mudslides, debris flows and other mayhem in Oregon and elsewhere in the pacific northwest. It seems like every time I turn around there is another Google Alert in my inbox about a landslide related issue in that area. Having a hard time keeping up with it all, I decided to try something new. Click through to see a map of automatically updated landslide news in Oregon. Lets call it a Beta…so we’ll see if it works out. If it does, maybe I’ll try something similar for other areas or other items that tend to make it into the news. (Photo by Ross William Hamilton/The Oregonian)
Geology.com pointed out a very nice PDF version of a Power Point presentation by the North Carolina Geologic Survey on their landslide hazard mapping efforts in western North Carolina. The presentation was dated August 1 of last year. The NCGS also has their landslide mapping products available for download, and those so inclined can download the GIS data sets as well. (Photo by NCGS)
The National Geodetic Data Center (NGDC) of NOAA has an online collection of photos of various geologic hazards. Many of the photos are from older sets of 35mm slides that have been digitized. They are free to use provided you credit the photographer and the NGDC as the source. The would be really useful for educators and for powerpoint presentations. The only drawback is that they are in TIF format and some of them could use some retouching. (Photo by University of Colorado, made available by NOAA/NGDC)
Folks in Oregon are angry about a recent landslide and debris flow that closed Highway 30 and destroyed property in the town of Woodson. (Here is a powerpoint presentation by Bill Burns of the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries showing how the event happened). Some rather stinging allegations are being made that politicians withdrew a landslide hazard map from general use in 2002 for political reasons. That map or another one had characterized the area effected by the December 2007 debris flow as a "very high" or "extreme" risk of landslides. A very interesting article.
Released: 11/7/2007 1:18:29 PM
| Contact Information: U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey Office of Communication 119 National Center Reston, VA 20192 |
Clarice Nassif Ransom &n=Clarice+Nassif+Ransom"> Phone: 703-648-4299 Matt Ocana (NOAA) |
Winter Rains on Burn Areas Could Spawn New Danger
A debris flow and flash flood warning system developed jointly by NOAA’s National Weather Service and the U.S. Geological Survey will help protect Southern Californians from potentially devastating debris flows-commonly known as mud slides- and flash floods in and around burn areas created by the recent wildfires.
Copyright © 2007-2020 by Randy Post