Comment by Starr DiGiacomo on January 28, 2018 at 9:23pm

https://our.news/external/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.timesunion.com%2Fn...

Buildings in danger after Schenectady mudslide

One person had to be dug out with shovels, flown to Albany Med

January 28, 2018

SCHENECTADY —A hillside just under Barney Street gave way in the middle of the night Sunday, trapping an unsuspecting resident in a house below.

City officials are currently evaluating what to do with at least four buildings that are in danger of further collapse after the mudslide slammed into a home below on Nott Terrace. Mayor Gary McCarthy has not returned calls seeking comment.

Schenectady police put out a notification Sunday afternoon that McCarthy had declared a state of emergency in the area at 9:45 a.m. The declaration covers 213, 219, 223, 225 and 227 Nott Terrace as well as 11 and 15 Barney Street and 2 Daggett Terrace.

Nott Terrace is closed between State and Chapel streets until further notice.

A deputy Schenectady fire chief says the call about the mudslide came in at 1:30 a.m. Sunday, and a man in an apartment at 223 Nott Terrace had to be dug out with tools and shovels. The resident was flown to Albany Medical Center Hospital. He was awake when transported, but his immediate condition is unknown.

At 15 Barney St., the house that appears vacant is hanging just over where the hill collapsed. A fence and what looks like an iron retaining wall also gave way, sending earth, trees and brush into the Nott Terrace house below.

A back wall of 223 Nott Terrace is bowed out where the hillside slammed into the house.

Four houses have been labeled by the city as now unsafe to enter, including another that is next to 223 Nott Terrace that also appears vacant.

The state Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Services tweeted that its also at the scene Sunday.

Comment by Starr DiGiacomo on January 23, 2018 at 12:49am

http://paranormalis.com/threads/13-die-after-massive-landslide-thro...

13 die after massive landslide throws bus into abyss in Colombia

Discussion in 'The News Wire' started by Mayhem, Today at 5:37 AM.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfgHkskenxU

<a rel=nofollow class="yt-simple-endpoint style-scope ytd-video-owner-renderer" href="https://www.youtube.com/user/efe"></a><a rel=nofollow class="yt-simple-endpoint style-scope ytd-video-owner-renderer" href="https://www.youtube.com/user/efe"></a><a rel=nofollow class="yt-simple-endpoint style-scope ytd-video-owner-renderer" href="https://www.youtube.com/user/efe"></a> <div id="upload-info" class="style-scope ytd-video-owner-renderer"><div id="owner-container" class="style-scope ytd-video-owner-renderer"><a rel=nofollow class="yt-simple-endpoint style-scope yt-formatted-string" href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvJS-YNyaWyOucx8bGrHVvw">AGENCIA EFE</a></div> Published on Jan 21, 2018</div> <span title="Bogotá, 21 ene (EFE).- Al menos trece personas muertas dejó hoy un deslizamiento de tierra que arrastró a un abismo un pequeño autobús que viajaba por la carretera entre Tumaco y Pasto, en el departamento de Nariño, frontera con Ecuador, informaron fuentes">Bogota, Jan 21 (EFE) .- At least thirteen people dead today left a landslide that dragged a small bus into the abyss that traveled on the road between Tumaco and Pasto, in the department of Nariño, border with Ecuador, informed sources official <span title=""Lamento profundamente la muerte de al menos 13 personas que transitaban en un vehículo de servicio público en la vía Tumaco-Pasto los cuales fueron sorprendidos por un alud de tierra", escribió en Twitter el director Agencia Nacional de Seguridad Vial, Alejandro Maya.">"I deeply regret the death of at least 13 people who were traveling in a public service vehicle on the Tumaco-Pasto highway, which were surprised by an avalanche of land," the director of the National Road Safety Agency, Alejandro Maya, wrote on Twitter. The landslide occurred at the site known as La Nariz del Diablo, at kilometer 66 of the road between Pasto, the departmental capital, and Tumaco. The relief agencies, according to RCN Televisión News, have already rescued ten bodies, including two minors and two women. <span title="El gobernador del departamento de Nariño, Camilo Romero, dijo a periodistas que ya se desplazaron al lugar funcionarios de la oficina de gestión del riesgo donde maquinaria pesada trabaja para despejar el paso.">The governor of the department of Nariño, Camilo Romero, told reporters that officials of the risk management office where heavy machinery works to clear the way have already moved to the site. <span title="El vehículo, afiliado a la empresa Supertaxis, salió en las horas de la mañana de Túquerres con un pasajero pero en el trayecto recogió a otros viajeros por lo que no se puede establecer con exactitud el número de personas que viajaban en él.">The vehicle, affiliated with the company Supertaxis, left in the morning hours of Túquerres with a passenger but on the way picked up other travelers so it can not be established exactly the number of people traveling in it. The search and rescue efforts were suspended because of the steepness of the terrain and will resume tomorrow morning. The area has been affected by torrential downpours that make frequent landslides in this part of the country. EFE Images provided by Governación de Nariño Keywords: efe, colombia, collapse, avalanche, earth

Comment by Starr DiGiacomo on January 18, 2018 at 3:51am

http://www.cetusnews.com/news/Landslide-threatens-three-story-hills...

Landslide threatens three-story hillside home in Malibu

01/17/2018 - 20:19

An active landslide Wednesday afternoon was threatening a three-story hillside home in Malibu, authorities said

Building and safety officials were responding to the home in the 2800 block of Hume Road to determine the stability of the land, said Bernard Peters, supervising dispatcher with the Los Angeles County Fire Department

It’s unclear whether anyone was inside the home when the slide began, but authorities at the scene were told to deny entry, Peters said

Aerial footage from the scene showed movement in the hillside behind the home.

Comment by Khan on January 17, 2018 at 7:42am

Slow-moving landslide has Washington town on high alert.

A slow-moving landslide in a fertile farming region in Washington state has forced evacuations as officials prepare for what they say is inevitable — the collapse of a ridge that sits above a few dozen homes and a key highway.

People in Washington are especially wary of landslides following one in 2014 north of Seattle that swept through a tiny community and across a state road, killing dozens.

Experts say the slide could happen as soon as late January or early February above Union Gap, a small agricultural town in the rolling brown foothills of the Cascade Range. A chunk of one ridge about the size of 24 football fields is expected to break off, spilling an estimated 4 million cubic yards of rocks and dirt.

Opinions on the impact vary widely, ranging from little damage to widespread flooding, especially in Union Gap. Some worry floodwaters will stretch into Yakima, which has 94,000 residents and sits just a few miles away.

Mudslides Strike Southern California, Leaving at Least 13 Dead

By JENNIFER MEDINA, THOMAS FULLER and TIM ARANGO JAN. 9, 2018

Debris and mud covered parts of the 101 freeway in Montecito, Calif., on Tuesday.Mike Eliason/Santa Barbara County Fire Department, via Associated Press

CARPINTERIA, Calif. — First came the fires. Now come the floods.

Heavy rains lashed the hillsides of Santa Barbara County on Tuesday, sending one boy hurtling hundreds of yards in a torrent of mud before he was rescued from under a freeway overpass. His father, though, was still missing. A 14-year-old girl was buried under a mountain of mud and debris from a collapsed home before being pulled to safety by rescuers as helicopters circulated overhead, searching for more victims.

Still, those children could count themselves among the lucky.

At least 13 people — and possibly more, the authorities warned — were killed on Tuesday as a vast area northwest of Los Angeles, recently scorched in the state’s largest wildfire on record, became the scene of another disaster, as a driving rainstorm, the heaviest in nearly a year, triggered floods and mudslides.

The wreckage of the downpour, coming so soon after the wildfires, was not a coincidence but a direct result of the charred lands, left vulnerable to quickly forming mudslides.

For residents and emergency workers, still weighing the devastation of the fires, it was a day of grim rituals resumed: road closings, evacuations, downed power lines, heroic rescues and a search for the dead.

“There’s still lots of areas that we haven’t been able to get to due to debris blocking roadways,” said Mike Eliason, a public information officer for the Santa Barbara County Fire Department.

By fire or rain, natural disasters have brought death and destruction to California’s coasts, and further inland, in recent months, adding to the growing catalog of natural catastrophes in the United States that was punctuated by three devastating hurricanes, Harvey, Irma and Maria. Last year, extreme weather that scientists say is partly attributed to climate change caused more than $306 billion in damage, a record that surpassed even the $215 billion cost of natural disasters in 2005, when Hurricane Katrina battered New Orleans, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

And that figure was compiled before the heavy rains struck California this week. Fires have been a scourge of California — dozens of people were killed in wildfires in Northern California in the fall — but rains bring their own perils, especially in places where the earth has been scorched by fire, leaving it susceptible to floods and dangerous mudslides.

Hundreds of emergency workers, many of whom had weeks earlier battled the massive fire that denuded hillsides and made the dirt so unstable, searched on Tuesday for survivors with the help of Coast Guard helicopters and heavy equipment to clear blocked roads. And flooding and mudslides closed a stretch of Highway 101, a crucial artery along the coast south from Santa Barbara, as well as portions of the 110 freeway.

Emergency workers search through debris and damaged homes after a mudslide in Montecito, Calif., on Tuesday. Santa Barbara County Fire Department

As the mud rushed into lower-lying neighborhoods in Montecito, a wealthy hillside community where many celebrities have homes, the power went out and gas lines were severed, said Thomas Tighe, a resident.

Sometime after 2 a.m. Mr. Tighe heard a loud rumbling, which he took to be boulders crashing down the hills. In the dark of the night, he could make out his cars floating away. Wearing a wet suit and booties, he used an ax to break down the fences around his house, which had been holding back the mud.

By dawn the devastation — and human toll — became clearer. Just 50 feet from Mr. Tighe’s home, firefighters found a body, wedged up against a neighbor’s car. Down the street, a couple and their three children, including an infant, sought safety on their roof.

“The neighborhood got pummeled,” Mr. Tighe said. “We were lucky in the scope of things.”

Anticipating the floods, Santa Barbara County officials issued a mandatory evacuation order on Sunday evening for roughly 7,000 residents, but most chose to stay in their homes.

“We went door to door,” said Gina DePinto, the communications manager for Santa Barbara County. “But many refused to leave.”

Across Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties, even in areas spared the worse of the floods, people were once again weighing the attractions of California life against its dangers.

For the second time in a month, Mark Carrillo, who lives in the coastal community of Carpinteria, ignored orders to evacuate his home at the top of a hill. During the fires last month, he decided to stay put to make sure no embers landed on his roof.

“There’s no place I’d rather be in the world,” he said.

Mr. Eliason, the fire department spokesman, said he worked with a team of firefighters that rescued eight people, including the 14-year-old girl who was in a house that was forced off its foundation and crashed into a stand of trees. It took two hours for firefighters to cut her out of the debris.

Firefighters successfully rescued a 14 year-old girl, second from right, after she was trapped for hours inside a destroyed home in Montecito on Tuesday.Santa Barbara County Fire Department

Creeks that during much of the year would only have a trickle of water burst their banks and “went where they wanted to go,” Mr. Eliason said.

“It was waist deep in the worst kind of mud you can think of,” he said. “You sink when you walk into it. You can’t pull your legs out.”

The rains began several hours after midnight Tuesday and in some cases fell an inch per hour; by late afternoon the highest recordings of total rainfall were in a section of Ventura County, where more than five inches had fallen in Ortega Hill. Over the weekend, as forecasts began calling for rain, the authorities began warning of possibly dangerous floods and mudslides in the area that had been consumed by wildfires in what was known as the Thomas Fire, which burned over 280,000 acres last month spanning Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties, and became California’s largest wildfire on record.

As rescuers searched for survivors on Tuesday afternoon, the weather forecast, at least, offered a respite. According to the National Weather Service, the rains would taper off by nighttime, and the rest of the week was forecast to be dry and clear.

Jonathan W. Godt, who coordinates the landslide hazards program at the United States Geological Survey, said the area of the Thomas Fire was prone to debris flows for two reasons: the terrain and the nature of the fire.

“That’s some really rugged topography,” Dr. Godt said, with steep slopes and elevation differences.

The fire, in a mostly chaparral landscape, also burned exceptionally hot, Dr. Godt said. A fire changes the physical properties of the soil, making it less absorbent. “It becomes much more erodible,” he said.

As rainwater runs off and flows downhill, it picks up soil, trees, boulders and other debris and eventually collects in a stream channel. The mix of water and debris, often with a consistency close to wet concrete, can then continue traveling at high speed down the streambed.

“You bring that down at 20 miles per hour and it can do a lot of damage,” Dr. Godt said.

Comment by KM on January 7, 2018 at 1:35pm

https://www.rt.com/uk/415094-seven-sisters-cliff-collapse/

UK’s iconic Seven Sisters cliffs caught on camera shattering, falling into sea

The footage was uploaded to social media and has since gone viral, garnering more than 7,000 views in less than 24 hours.

The footage, taken by a National Trust staffer, was filmed at the Seven Sisters beauty spot at Birling Gap in East Sussex at the height of the storm. Winds of up to 80mph battered the coast, apparently taking the cliffs down with them.

“During the recent storm, there was a cliff fall on the chalk cliffs at the Seven Sisters," a National Trust spokesperson said.

“This was captured on video by a member of the National Trust team. This stands as a reminder of the danger of standing near the cliff edge and we advise visitors to act sensibly when visiting the area.”

The National Trust looks after 775 miles of coastline around England, Wales and Northern Ireland, including the white cliffs. More than 350,000 tourists visit Birling Gap and Seven Sisters cliffs annually, but in recent years visitors have been warned to stay well clear of the edge due to recent erosion and to a horrific accident last year.

Comment by Starr DiGiacomo on December 17, 2017 at 8:20am

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/mudslide-in-southern-chile-kil...

Mudslide in southern Chile kills five, at least 15 missing

A mudslide on Saturday tore through a small village in southern Chile near a popular national park, leaving five people dead and at least 15 missing after a night of torrential downpours, authorities said.

A video taken from a helicopter by Chilean police showed a vast swath of the remote town of Villa Santa Lucia, near Chaiten in coastal Patagonia, buried beneath the mud as the landslide plowed its way down a flooded river valley.

Four Chileans and a male tourist whose name and nationality have not been disclosed were died in the mudslide, authorities said.

Rescue workers were continuing to search through the debris for at least 15 people.

The mudslide also destroyed a school and several homes and roadways as well as a voting center ahead of Chile´s presidential election on Sunday.

President Michelle Bachelet declared the area a disaster zone.

"I have ordered rescue workers to put all the necessary resources toward protecting the people of Villa Santa Lucia," she said on social media.

More than 4.5 inches (11.4 cm) of rain fell in 24 hours, the country's Interior Ministry said, but weather conditions were expected to improve later in the day.

Villa Santa Lucia borders Chile's Corcovado National Park, a popular tourist region of volcanoes, fjords and vast forests.

The nearby Chaiten volcano erupted in 2008, forcing the evacuation of thousands of residents.

Comment by Starr DiGiacomo on November 29, 2017 at 6:19am

https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/nsw/three-trapped-after-l...

One dead, two trapped after landslide at walking track in Wentworth Falls in Blue Mountains

Updated29 November 2017 - 03:06pmfirst published at 11:09am

Three National Parks contractors were identifying rock fall hazards at the Blue Mountains on Wednesday when a landslide 10 metres above hit, killing one of the workers and seriously injuring the others.

The injured men, 26 and 27, were in the process of being winched to safety but their colleague, whose age has not yet been released by police, was not as fortunate.

National Park director David Crust said the contractors were identifying "rock fall hazard" when the landslide hit around 11.40am at Wentworth Falls.

A full risk assessment had been done. "It was part of a programmed work," Mr Crust said.

"The matter is now under investigation. It's a tragic event."

Superintendent Darryl Jobson said the operation to rescue the two survivors was "sensitive".

"It took about one hour for emergency responders to access the site," Superintendent Jobson told reporters at the scene.

"This is an ongoing operation. The priority is the safety of our responders."

The NSW Ambulance service said one of the survivors "has suffered multiple fractures and is currently being transported by helicopter to Westmead Hospital in a serious condition"."The other patient remains on scene a stable condition, awaiting extrication by helicopter," they said.

It was reported the man who died will not be removed on Wednesday and will remain under police guard. A report will be prepared for the coroner.

Emergency services responded to reports of people injured in the rock fall. Critical care paramedics had been winched in to assess the patients, and rescue teams from police and fire and rescue were also on scene.

Police said the trio were not tourists.

Photo: Seven News

Mike Burgess told the ABC he was bushwalking below the mountainside track that collapsed when he heard a "big explosion" that sounded "like dynamite going off".

"But I knew it wouldn't be dynamite, it would be a big slab," he said.

Scenery at the National Pass, near where the accident occurred.

Photo: Johan Palsson

"We heard all the blooming rocks smash down through the bush … right after that I heard a bloke scream.

"I'd say there were some pretty bad injuries down there."

Efforts to rescue the two men were expected to be "protracted", an ambulance spokesman said, and could be hampered by the weather which he said looked to be turning bad.

Fifteen ambulance crews including three rescue helicopters were responding to the incident.

One Fire and Rescue crew was also on the scene and two more were on their way, a Fire and Rescue NSW spokesman said.

A command post has been established at the end of Falls Road, where officers from Blue Mountains Local Area Command, police rescue, Polair and National Parks and Wildlife Service are also on the scene.

Police asked members of the public to avoid the area.

An announcement on the National Parks and Wildlife Service website says Wentworth Pass is closed "due to a rockfall on National Pass".

The pass closure affects the Den Fenella walking track, National Pass and the Wentworth Pass loop walking track.

Large rocks previously fell on the National Pass walking track at Wentworth Falls in November last year.

After further signs of increasing instability the track was temporarily closed in September this year, following an assessment of overhead rock stability.

"Falls of this nature occur throughout the park and the procedures are to help ensure the safety of everyone," NPWS Blue Mountains acting area manager Arthur Henry said at the time.

The September closure covered the area between Valley of the Waters and Slack Stairs, "due to the risk of further falls from a dangerous, unstable section of rock above the walking track".

It remains unclear if this is the same portion of the track.

The National Pass walk attracts 90,000 visitors annually.

SafeWork NSW has been notified about the incident.

Comment by Starr DiGiacomo on November 29, 2017 at 5:42am

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/99359086/it-has-happened-again-sec...

It has happened again: Second slip in Auckland's Birkenhead car park

Last updated 15:30, November 29 2017

A second landslide has torn away another chunk of a car park in Auckland's Birkenhead, and is creeping towards businesses.

What began as a crack in the public car park in August, has steadily worsened. The back half of Rawene Rd car park slipped down a gorge on October 8.

Now, a second landslide has appeared directly next to the initial slip, on the western side, and the edge of it is a lot closer to the back of Birkenhead's Mokoia Rd shops.

Another slip as torn away part of Birkenhead's Rawene Rd car park, and it's creeping closer to businesses.

The kerb that joins the Rawene car park access road to the pavement is split apart like a broken zipper. The slip is visibly a lot steeper in appearance compared to the initial slip in October but not as deep.

Auckland Transport's Mark Hannan first announced there had been another slip via media release on November 28 at 5pm.

Danielle Grant

Engineers coordinate inspections and safety measures.

This morning, Hannan said there was no overnight movement of the site following the second slip.

At least 10 engineers were on site on Wednesday morning.

This morning, Hannan said there was no overnight movement of the site following the second slip.

At least 10 engineers were on site on Wednesday morning.

"Building inspectors have assessed surrounding properties and there continues to be no indication of a risk to those properties," Hannan said.

The kerb joining the road to the pavement is split apart like a broken zipper.

"Specialists are continuing to monitor the site and stabilisation work has been paused while the impact of the second slip is being investigated.

"In the interest of public safety, pedestrian and vehicle access to private car parks via the slip road is now prohibited."

Hannan said a piece of equipment, which is described as similar to a platform, fell about three metres. Hannan confirmed no-one had been injured.

A second slip hits Birkenhead, a little over a month after the October incident.

Kaipātiki Local Board chairwoman Danielle Grant was at the slip this morning.

Grant said the board was waiting for geotechnical reporting and a stabilisation plan to gain a better understanding of the next steps.

"The main thing businesses are after, at the moment, is clear and ongoing communication."

'ACCIDENT WAITING TO HAPPEN'

Claire Balfour, chairwoman of the nearby Mokoia Apartments body corporate, said residents were concerned about the significant drop in the car park when it first appeared almost three weeks before the slip happened.

She said the asphalt had originally been poured onto unstable land without a retaining wall and was "an accident waiting to happen".

Auckland Transport has defended its management of the gaping hole that has appeared where the car park used to be.

AT's chief infrastructure officer Greg Edmonds said the car park had washed away into the gorge below it following "pretty significant rains" over the past 12 months.

Edmonds said AT had been monitoring the site for 12 months and it took appropriate action when the crack appeared, closing part of the car park and fencing it off for public safety.

Landslides

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