Landslides Erupt Across Southeastern U.S.

[Howard]

The result of a landslide on Newfound Gap Road (U.S. 441) in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park - January 16, 2013.

Within a 9-day period in mid-January 2013, landslides exploded across mountainous regions in Tennessee, North Carolina, Kentucky, West Virginia and Alabama. There were over 50 incidents of mudslides in North Carolina alone.  While heavy rainfall was a contributing factor in these events, reports of shifting Earth in many of these area has been ongoing in recent years.

"The N American continent is bowing under the stress of having Mexico pulled west during the compression in the Pacific, while the top part of the continent remains firmly in place. The southeast of the US is being pulled down as the Atlantic Rift pulls apart. It is being pulled down due to the bowing of the N American continent. It is absolutely in the stretch zone and this is being expressed in many ways."  ZetaTalk

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More Than 50 Mudslides Across North Carolina in mid-January 2013

Mudslide on US 19 North of Ashville, North Carolina

There has been a deluge of landslides over roadways, with nearly 50 slope failures causing problems on state-maintained roads, according to the Asheville Citizen-Times.

"We've had four in Cherokee County, three in Clay County, 23 in Graham County, eight in Haywood, 10 in Jackson, two in Macon, six in Swain and none in Henderson, Polk and Transylvania," said Joel Setzer, district engineer for District 14, which comprises the 10 westernmost counties.

Setzer noted that these are only slides on state-maintained roads. More have occurred on private roads.

Most of the slides have been from smaller embankments that overhang roadways, Setzer said, and so far the failures have not caused any wrecks, according to the newspaper. When the embankments fail, earth and debris slides onto the road.

So far, state transportation crews have been able to clear all of the smaller slides, working through the night in some cases.

One reported slide happened on U.S.19 north of Asheville in Yancey County.

"There is no way to know what might be unstable at the time," said NCDOT Maintenance Engineer Chris Deyton.

Deyton is learning though. In his district which covers both Yancey and Madison Counties, Deyton says there has been more than 25 slides in the past three days (as of Jan 17).

Sources
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2013/jan/17/landslide-closes-cherohala...
http://www2.wspa.com/news/2013/jan/17/5/mud-slide-shuts-down-road-n...
http://www2.wspa.com/news/2013/jan/17/5/mud-slide-shuts-down-road-n...

Giant Washout Strands Residents Near Bluff City Tennessee (Jan 19)
Members of the Hickory Tree Volunteer Fire Department began draining flood waters Saturday from a massive sinkhole on Barnette Road in the Chinquapin Road community, just outside of Bluff City, Tenn.

Barnette Road is completely under water for about 150 feet. The sinkhole, which took out part of the road, is roughly 75 feet across.

Fire crews are using a pumper truck and large hoses to pump the water uphill from the road, where the high water has blocked any exit for about 10 residents of the community.

They've really been on an island. It's been unfortunate, but the good news is that today we're able to see the volunteer fire department come out and make a big difference," says State Representative Timothy Hill.

Crews have been pumping out 14-thousand gallons of water per minute to try to get the water cleared out.

Twelve families are on the other side of the water unable to leave.

"They've run ATVs in from the other side to bring them some supplies in. They hadn't been able to get out to go to work and then when the snow hit and it froze, they lost all their power too," says volunteer Bobby Richards.

Resident Bobby Barnett says he's never seen it flood this bad.

"I've lived here all my life- it's the worst I've ever seen it. I've seen it flood before, but this is so much it can't take it. Somethings gonna have to be done about that hole right there," says Barnett.

Sources

http://www.wcyb.com/news/Flooded-road-strands-residents/-/14590844/...
http://www.tricities.com/news/local/article_533a9926-62ad-11e2-a49a...

Landslide Closes Cherohala Skyway Between N.C. and Tennessee (Jan 17)
Add the scenic Cherohala Skyway to the list of roadways closed because of landslides.

According to the North Carolina Department of Transportation, the slide this morning occurred on the skyway, also known as N.C. 143, in Graham County, N.C., about a half mile from the Tennessee border.

The slide measures about 150 feet wide and extends 800 to 900 feet down the mountainside, according to North Carolina transportation authorities.

The western end of the roadway, which connects Tellico Plains southeast of Knoxville with Robbinsville, N.C., is closed at the Tennessee-N.C. border.

The Tennessee Department of Transportation has posted message boards warning drivers coming from Tennessee that their path is blocked.

In North Carolina, the eastern end of the skyway is closed at Joyce Kilmer Road.

Crews are studying the extent of damage and a repair schedule, according to North Carolina authorities.

Another mudslide has been reported Thursday on Cherohala Skyway (NC-143) in Graham County. It happened about a half-mile from the border with Tennessee.

Officials say the road isn't safe for travel and a detour has been put in place.

Crews will also be monitoring other high-traffic areas like Interstate 40 through the Pigeon River Gorge which has experienced numerous slides.

Sources
http://www.9news.com/news/world/310869/347/Nearly-50-mudslides-plag...
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2013/jan/17/landslide-closes-cherohala...



Debris from a mudslide blocks Black Camp Road in Haywood County

Mudslide brought down part of a mountain in Maggie Valley Thursday.  It happened on Rich Cove Road near Ghost Town in the Sky.  It's near the location of another mudslide that happened a few years ago.

Sources

http://www.wlos.com/shared/news/features/top-stories/stories/wlos_h...

http://www2.wspa.com/news/2013/jan/17/5/mud-slide-shuts-down-road-n...



Newfound Gap Road in North Carolina Swept Away by Massive Landslide (Jan 16)
U.S. Highway 441 between Gatlinburg and Cherokee, N.C. will be closed indefinitely since a 200-foot portion of the roadbed washed away at approximately 9:40 a.m.Wednesday, Jan. 16.

An estimated 90,000 cubic yards of asphalt, roadbed, mud and trees fell some 1,000 feet down the side of the mountain. The full extent of the damage is not known, Park officials said.

A gap about as long as a football field now divides U.S. 441, also known as Newfound Gap Road, on the North Carolina side of Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

The nearly 50-foot-deep gap, created by a slide swept along by a deluge of rain this week in the Smokies, had consisted of about 90,000 cubic yards of material, according to park spokeswoman Molly Schroer.

The gap is situated near mile marker 22 between Collins Creek and the Webb Overlook, not far from Cherokee, N.C.

The National Park Service said the initial assessment shows about 90,000 cubic yards of soil slid about the length of a football field and is piled 45-50 feet deep.

"We just know it's going to be closed for an extended period of time," said Park Spokesperson Molly Schroer.

Sources

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2013/jan/17/newfound-gap-road-swept-aw...
http://theknoxvillejournal.com/landslide-washes-away-u-s-441-in-nc/
http://www.timescolonist.com/life/travel/snow-delaying-assessment-o...
http://www.wbir.com/news/article/249676/2/Football-size-landslide-t...



Rockslide on Alcoa Highway Near Knoxville Tennessee (Jan 15)
For the third time in two years, motorists can expect delays along Alcoa Highway in South Knoxville due to damage caused by a rockslide.

Mark Nagi, Region 1 TDOT spokesman, said the rock slide on Alcoa Highway occurred just after 10:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Falling boulders tore through the mesh — protections that had been installed following the last rockslide in March 2012.

This previous slide kept one northbound land shut down for nearly six weeks until crews could complete repairs.

A similar rockslide left the same stretch of roadway blocked in December 2010.

Sources

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2013/jan/17/newfound-gap-road-swept-aw...

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2013/jan/18/rockslide-151-again-151-le...



Hwy 90 in Egan Tennessee Slides Away (Jan 16)
A landslide that happened in one East Tennessee county Wednesday is still causing headaches for drivers in several local communities.

After numerous days of heavy rain, a 125-foot wide landslide, measuring 30 feet deep, occurred on Highway 90 near the Claiborne/Campbell County line in the unincorporated town of Eagan.

TDOT spokesperson Mark Nagi said the department suspects the waterway next to the road, which flooded earlier in the week, played a role in the incident.

Ever since the slide, Eagan residents and others who live around the area, have had to take long detours to get to bigger cities in the region.

"It's the main artery that everybody and everything uses to get out of here," she said.

He said TDOT hopes to finish the lane by the end of that day and have the entire project finished in two weeks.

"We have had people [workers] who haven't rested in days," he said.

Sources
http://www.wbir.com/news/article/249719/2/Rockslide-shuts-down-Hwy-...
http://www.wbir.com/news/article/250190/2/Highway-90-landslide-deto...

Fort Payne Alabama Landslide Will Take Months to Repair (Jan 16)

DeKalb County officials said although they did not anticipate a landslide on Fort Payne Gap Road, it did not come as a surprise.

“There’s been an issue there, the road has been settling some for years.  We thought we had made some repairs but this type of failure of this magnitude was not expected,” DeKalb County engineer Ben Luther said.

Crews tried to build up and strengthen the shoulder of the road last year, but Luther said cracks formed and collected recent rainfall which saturated the shoulder.

“It just got so heavy and wet where it just dropped,” he said.

There aren’t any homes on that section of the road, but it is a major throughway for people traveling between Lookout Mountain and the valley portion of Fort Payne.

The shift made it unsafe to drive on, and Luther said snow could add even more weight.

“We don’t have any idea how long it’s going to take [to repair it],” Luther said.

“Four years ago when we had the road on Sylvania Gap do this exact same thing it was over a year by the time we got everything done and the road opened back up,” he said.

“Hopefully this won’t be as bad and won’t take as long but it looks very very similar to what happened on Sylvania Gap.”

http://whnt.com/2013/01/17/fort-payne-landslide-will-take-months-to...

West Virginia Rock Slide Closes Road in Kanawha County (Jan 16)
http://www.wowktv.com/story/20600362/rock-slide

Dillsboro NC Mudslide Takes out Part of Mountain (Jan 16)
http://www.wlos.com/shared/news/features/top-stories/stories/wlos_m...

Mars Hill NC Mudslide Narrowly Misses Home (Jan 16)
http://www.wlos.com/shared/news/features/top-stories/stories/wlos_m...

Four Mudslides During Past 2 Years in Richmond Kentucky (Jan 13)
http://richmondregister.com/localnews/x1303518489/Four-mudslides-in...

Wheeling West Virginia's Heritage Trail Plagued by Mudslides Past Several Years (Jan 11)

A powerful mudslide Friday morning forced crews to close the Wheeling Heritage Trail until it's cleaned up.

The slide left a mess, sending mud not only onto the trail itself, but downstream for miles in Big Wheeling Creek.

This is not the first time there's been a mudslide on the trail. Wheeling Public Works Director Rusty Jebbia said crews were cleaning up the slide that happened around Christmas, but this afternoon the Valley had some light rain which made more debris come down.

Crews originally tried to remove the mud and reopen the trail, but after a few hours of work, they got more than what they were expecting.

"We were working on getting the trail opened back up and we did get it back open late morning," Jebbia said. "We went back to hose off the asphalt, then we had a little rain even over lunchtime and then everything came back down on the trail from above."

Jebbia said this is the largest mudslide to date for this section of trail. The mess was visible from Interstate 70 and turned the Big Wheeling Creek brown.

http://www.wtov9.com/news/news/mudslide-blocks-part-wheeling-herita...

[Howard]

West Virginia Landslides (Aug 20)
On August 16, a landslide caused a pipeline to rupture and spill a liquid gas near a Wetzel County stream.

The next day, a road 50 miles away in Marshall County collapsed 40 feet.

A landowner and nearby residents were just beginning to notice the cracks in the road on Friday, but the next day the road was no longer there.

"We had received a call from one of the residents about the slip and we went with the Washington Lands Fire Department to check out the site and to see some of the damage that occurred on the hillside," said Tom Hart, Marshall County Emergency Management Director.

Tom Wilson, the landowner said when he went up to the hillside Saturday morning, the road had fallen about 40 feet. Wilson and Hart both said their biggest concern right now is the residents living just down below the mess. "There are homes below that and the residents are extremely concerned about their homes at this point and their safety, so that is something that we’re continuing to communicate with them and monitor as well," said Hart.

Hart said right now it's a day to day worry for residents. They did send a report into the West Virginia Division of Homeland Security and Management, and also submitted a request for the Department of Highways out of Charleston. The state will be there on Wednesdays to see what type of mitigation measure will be needed. "Hopefully they're able to get in there and take a look at it but it's a day-to-day thing for the residents and they're keeping an eye on it," said Hart.

Sources

http://www.wtov9.com/news/features/top-stories/stories/landslide-go...

http://www.exponent-telegram.com/web_exclusive/wv/w-va-landslide-ca...

[Starr DiGiacomo]

More troubles in North Carolina, landslide hits Polk County

http://www.tryondailybulletin.com/2013/07/15/heavy-rains-cause-seve...

Heavy rains cause several road closures in Polk

Published 10:59pm Monday, July 15, 2013

There’s been a lot of talk about Noah’s Ark in recent weeks with many wondering how long the rains can keep up.
The area saw the sun shine for most of the day, Monday, July 15 for the first time in 14 consecutive days.
The area has seen rain every day, with many days including heavy rains, the month of July for a total of 12.51 inches for the month. The average rainfall in July is 5.27 inches, according to the National Weather Service.
The average rainfall for the month of June is 5.38 inches. This year in June, the area received 9.25 inches, with May normally receiving 4.57 inches on average and this May saw 11.3 inches.
The results of excessive rains and storms were evident on several roads in Polk County over the weekend, including on Peniel Road where a large gap remains in a culvert that was overrun with water on Saturday, July 13.
Peniel Road remains closed between Hugh Champion Road and Hwy. 9. N.C. Department of Transportation (DOT) officials began working on the road Monday, July 15. DOT estimates it will take a few days to complete repairs, according to a report from Polk County Emergency Management.
DOT maintenance engineer for Transylvania and Polk counties Ben Williams said Peniel Road is being repaired with a larger pipe, head walls and large amounts of back fill to build the roadbed back. He said the area would be much safer once the repairs are complete.
DOT reopened all other roads that were closed over the weekend including Houston Road, John Watson Road, Bill Collins Road and Hwy. 9, near Polk Central Elementary School.
DOT officials were out in a heavy rainstorm that hit the area around 4 p.m. Sunday, where Hwy. 9 was closed all day Saturday with a similar scene to Peniel Road.
DOT officials said Hwy. 9 had a 20 ft. gap between it due to a culvert being overrun with water sometime early Saturday morning, July 13. The Hwy. 9 closure occurred near Polk Central Elementary School and was reopened after DOT crews worked to rebuild the road from 7 a.m. until midnight Saturday.
Hwy. 9 also had areas where rains were so heavy storage buildings were literally moved. One building was pushed and landed in the middle of Hicks McAbee Road, off Hwy. 9 in Mill Spring.
There are also three residences at Hawks Landing, off Golf Course Road in Columbus, who were stranded over the weekend, with the only access to their properties being with ATVs or horseback. The Polk County Emergency Services (EMS) is keeping close contact with the residents to ensure they have everything they need. It is also unknown when the Hawks Landing bridge can be repaired.
Local fire and rescue teams were nonstop over the weekend with calls from residents who couldn’t go any further due to roads collapsing and downed trees and power lines.
The Tryon Fire Department was called to a tree and power line down Sunday morning on Howard Gap Road with many Tryon area residents being without power much of Sunday as a result. Their power was restored Sunday evening.
Tryon officials also responded Sunday morning to a main water line break at Depot and Pacolet Streets downtown. Other areas affected by high waters or road closures over the weekend included Fox Mountain Road, Vista at Riverbank off Sandy Plains Road, John Shehan Road and Whiteside Road.
Polk County EMS Director Michael Crater urges residents to not cross standing water because what may look like two feet deep to a driver could in reality be something washed out 10 ft. deep underneath.
Crater said emergency management staff was out all weekend checking areas and assessing damage. He also said people should remain cautious this week especially for road failures and trees which are saturated.
“We’re doing everything we can,” he said on Sunday as he took the Bulletin on a tour of failed roads throughout the county. “We’re in overdrive right now.”
Crater urged residents to only call 911 for an actual emergency. Residents calling in to report high water or other issues should call the EMS non-emergency line at 828-894-0187.
The total rainfall for the year is currently at 40.81 inches of rain, which is much more than normal. A normal average for the year by the end of July is 35.52 inches. The yearly average total for Tryon is 61.77 inches of rain.
The most rain in one day the area has received in July, according to the National Weather Service’s Tryon monitoring station, occurred on July 4 at 2.87 inches. Friday, July 12 the area received 2.6 inches of rain, according to the NWS.
The area is still nowhere near the record rainfall in a day. On Oct. 25, 1918 the area received 9.05 inches of rain, according to the National Weather Services record data, recorded from 1917 through 2013. The 10th highest precipitation in one day occurred on Aug. 18, 1985 with 6.09 inches of rain.

Top 10 record precipitations by rank:
1: 9.05  Oct. 25, 1918
2: 8.47  Sept. 8, 2004
3: 7.50  Aug. 15, 1928
4: 7.15  Aug. 27, 1995, Aug. 13, 1940
6: 6.85  Aug. 18, 1986
7: 6.55  July 2, 2003
8: 6.38  Sept. 1, 1979
9: 6.25  June 18, 1982
10: 6.09 Aug. 18, 1985

[Howard]

20 Miles of North Carolina Highway Closed Due to Large Crack (July 15)

(Courtesy of Heather)

Officials said 20 miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway is closed due to a large crack running down its center in Buncombe County.

The road is closed from Milepost 375 to Milepost 355 at N.C. 128 near Mount Mitchell State Park.

“It’s clear to me the crack has expanded since Friday. It’s 8-inches-wide by 5-feet-deep and 200 feet long,” said Mike Molling, parkway chief of maintenance and engineering. On Friday, the crack was about 4 inches wide and 100 feet long.

The bank below the roadway is also starting to slide.

Officials are not sure when the Parkway will reopen.

According to a press release, the road closed due to “significant structural damage.” Federal highway engineers have been called in to work alongside Parkway engineers to remedy the problem as soon as possible.

“What we are trying to do is do a temporary repair that will allow us to open the road on Sept 1 for the remainder of the summer,” said Mike Molling, Chief of Maintenance and Engineering.

The road underwent a paving project in 2010. A slope failure project at Milepost 358 near Mount Mitchell caused closure of this section from last November through Memorial Day. The entire parkway was only open for a little more than a month.

“A permanent fix will be a long-term project. We’re going to have to do major excavation,”

Sources

http://myfox8.com/2013/07/15/crack-opens-up-along-blue-ridge-parkwa...

http://www.hcpress.com/news/portion-of-the-blue-ridge-parkway-near-...

http://www.blackmountainnews.com/article/20130716/OUTDOORS/30716002...

[Howard]

Landslide Closes North Carolina Highway Indefinitely (July 16)

(Courtesy of Starr DiGiacomo)

VIDEO

A massive landslide occurred on N.C. 194 near Blevins Creek Road, closing more than a one-mile section of road in between Elk Park and Newland indefinitely, according to the N.C. Department of Transportation. Locally, the road is referred to as “The Three Lane.”

The mudslide is 250 feet in length and about 75 to 80 feet deep, consuming three lanes of traffic. Authorities say pieces are still falling from it.

“Not sure how long it will take to fix,” NCDOT spokesman Jerry Higgens wrote in an email Tuesday morning.

The “slope failure,” as the NCDOT described the event, happened in the middle of the night and has been labeled as a “high severity incident” that will impact traffic heavily.

A section of the road about 200 feet long and about 150 to 200 feet deep was washed away overnight as a mudslide off the shoulder wore away the road foundation and caused the failure due to the wet conditions from the recent storms.

A fifty foot wall of mud more than a hundred yards raced down the hillside.  In the path of the mud downhill stood three homes. Two were destroyed, the third was within feet of being hit by the moving earth.  Inside the two homes that were destroyed were two families.

"We saw a flash of light," said Robby Bailey. He thinks it was a transformer burning up. "Then we heard something that sounded like a transfer truck coming down the hill." It wasn't a truck. It was the mud.

"The house was shaking," said Robby's wife Heather. Robby said he told Heather to get their daughter and run. They got out quickly, though Robby had to crawl part of the way.

They climbed up a creek bank and made it to safety as rocks and mud tumbled past them.  At the same time, Robby's brother Charles was inside his own home nearby and felt it moving as the mud pushed it.  

"It stopped for a moment and we jumped out and then more mud came and moved it downhill," he said. That's when he heard the home breaking apart. On Tuesday morning, despite small sections of the hillside still crumbling 300 feet above them, both families tried to salvage important papers and other items from the wreckage.

They didn't stay long out of fear of what else could fall from the hillside above them. Robby climbed under the rubble of one wall and found his cell phone.

"It still works and the glass is not even cracked," he said with a smile. Unfortunately most of his other belongings, including his truck and an SUV were destroyed. "It's all under the mud now." The families are staying with relatives until they can find another place to live.

News Channel 11 reported at least one home was affected with residents receiving minor injuries and emergency responders said indications are that the highway is “starting to buckle.”

“This is going to be a traffic nightmare for a while,” a spokesman for Avery County Department of Emergency Communications told News Channel 11. “It’s a major deal.”

Avery County Maintenance Engineer Jerry Combs was at the scene and unavailable for comment Tuesday morning and calls to the Avery County Emergency Management Office went unanswered.

Sources

http://www.hcpress.com/news/high-severity-event-major-landslide-occ...

http://www.wcnc.com/traffic/alerts/Mudslide-shuts-down-Avery-County...

http://www.wbtv.com/story/22858278/families-escape-mudslide-major-r...

[Howard]

4-Acre Landslide in Kentucky (June 13)
A large landslide occurred on KY Hwy 3451 in Dayhoit, knocking down electrical poles and blocking the road.

The slide is 400-feet wide and covers approximately three to four acres, with approximately 60,000 yards of material needing to be moved.

Resident Sandy McKnight lives across from the slide. She said this was the second slide to occur within the last few days.

“The first one was a big tree came down on Thursday at about 10 a.m. and knocked the electricity off for about eight hours,” said McKnight. “As soon as the electric company got some new poles up, a second slide occurred about 6 p.m.”

McKnight said she and her son rode four-wheelers to the top of the mountain and observed a much larger area, which she says looks like it is “coming down also.”

“You can sit here at night and hear the rock and trees moving,” said McKnight. “It reaches further on down the road and you can see the trees are already leaning.”

With the roadway being blocked, McKnight said she has allowed the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet to detour traffic through her yard.

“They took some of my fence down to allow people to get to their homes above us,” said McKnight. “There are approximately 50 people, some elderly, who live above the slide area. It’s a small wonder someone was not injured when all of this came down. Children ride their bicycles and play up and down this road all the time, especially now that summer is here and children are out of school. We have been asking for something to be done about this for as long as a year. Every time it rains, we have trees falling and earth moving.”

McKnight said the “whole area is unstable.”

“I just hope they take care of all of it instead of just removing this part that is now covering the road,” said McKnight. “This is a grave danger to our community. It seems like everyone is just passing the buck. We’ve had other mudslides, but this one is just larger than the ones we’ve had in the past. The weather forecast is for more rain in the next few days, who knows what will come off next.”

Magistrate Delbert Stephens said he had received numerous complaints from residents as far back as the winter of 2012.

“During the winter of 2012, I went to a slide in the same area,” said Stephens. “I contacted Emergency Management Director David McGill and he and I then contacted Abandoned Mine Lands. They came down to the slide and the county took them on four-wheelers to the top of the mountain to the break.”

Stephens said since that time, he has talked with AML several times and they told him they planned to correct the problem.

“In the meantime, we still have the problem and it’s getting worse,” said Stephens. “Because of so much debris in the creek, it has caused the water to reroute into a resident’s yard below the slide, eroding their property. We can’t even get permission to clean the creek out for them.”

Source

http://www.harlandaily.com/view/full_story/22900176/article-Landsli...

[Howard]

Massive Rockslide Closes Tennessee Highway (May 9)

A highway in Carthage will remain blocked for about two weeks after a massive rock slide on Thursday morning.

Carthage Police said rocks started cascading down a hillside burying part of State Route 25/Dixon Springs Highway sometime before 5 a.m.

The boulders stretch all the way across the two lane highway south of Massey Road and goes back 165 feet. Some of them are the size of dump trucks.

Crews estimate 15,000 cubic yards of limestone fell in the slide, which is about 165 feet long.

Sources

http://www.newschannel5.com/story/22203234/massive-rock-slide-shuts...

http://www.wsmv.com/story/22203277/rockslide-smith-county-carthage

[Howard]

Rock Slide Slams Ohio Home, Evacuates Residents (Apr 30)

Tabatha Huddy could only watch as a huge boulder came crashing into her home Tuesday afternoon on State Route 329 outside the Village of Trimble.

Chopper 10 was above the scene as chunks of rock tumbled down the hillside and slammed into the home. It crushed a carport.

Huddy and her family evacuated Tuesday morning when rocks first started falling.

"It kind of sounded like a bomb going off," Huddy said.

Huddy said they'd never had issues with the rocky hillside behind their home until Tuesday.

Officials said the house is likely a total loss. They said the home was knocked about four feet off its foundation.

"It's very depressing," Huddy said. "That's our life. Everything we worked for."

Another home next door was also evacuated.

Officials closed State Route 329 until a state emergency response team can respond to the area Wednesday morning to figure out what's next.

Officials said they're also keeping a close watch on a cell phone tower that's perched on top of the hill. Jacksonville Fire Chief Todd Wisor said this is a unique situation for his department.

"It's very dangerous," he said. "There's no warning signs or anything." He said a cause for the rockslide isn't clear yet, but said recent rain may have played a role.

Source

http://www.10tv.com/content/stories/2013/04/30/trimble-rockslide-th...

[Howard]

Mudslide Inundates Florida Homes (May 1)  

A mudslide might be the last thing you expect in Florida, but it’s what came crashing through one woman’s window last night on Sunnyside Drive just off of State Road 50.

A large mudslide in Lake County has put a section of State Road 50 in Clermont at risk and flooded a nearby home with several feet of mud after washing out a huge section of earth.

A river of mud came flowing from the back of the Sunnyside Drive home all the way to the front.

"It’s covered in three to four feet of mud, nine foot ceilings you are standing on top of the mud and your head is rubbing against the ceiling, toilets are covered with mud, it’s a complete loss,” Harvey Rosenberg the property manager said.

The giant hole opened up in an embankment along the highway. FDOT officials estimate a 100 cubic yards of dirt came crashing through the bedroom window covering the bed in mud.

Source

http://www.cfnews13.com/content/news/cfnews13/news/article.html/con...

[Howard]

Rock Slide Closes Tennessee Highway Indefinitely (Mar 25)
A rock slide this morning at about 6:30 a.m. forced the closure of State Route 16 in Franklin County, Tenn., according to a news release from the Tennessee Department of Transportation.

The slide at Rowe Gap Road/Keith Springs Mountain is in the same location where TDOT crews are involved in an active $2.4 million rock slide mitigation project, and personnel are determining when the roadway safely can be reopened, the release states.

Sources
http://www.waaytv.com/news/local/rock-slide-shuts-down-highway-in-f...
http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2013/mar/25/rock-slide-closes-st...

[Howard]

Rock Slide Closes Interstate Highway in West Virgina (Mar 21)

As the live video footage of the rock slide shows, drivers on I-77 in Bluefield, West Virginia couldn't help but stop during a rock slide that closed both sides of the interstate highway for days.

The West Virginia Department of Transportation has been busy at work trying to clear the roadway. Crews must first stabilize it before they can make permanent corrections. But it could be closed through the weekend. Concrete barriers are in place in the slow lane of I-77, to hold back debris from the rockslide.

Sources

http://www.digtriad.com/news/watercooler/article/276146/176/Insane-...

http://www.wvnstv.com/story/21760694/slideshow-interstate-77-rock-s...