Week 8-Mass Wasting Events Exploration

Landslides in the United States cause approximately $3.5 billion in damage, and kill between 25-50 people annually. The largest landslide in modern U.S. history (in terms of volume) was most likely one that occurred in 2013 in Bingham Canyon outside of Salt Lake City, Utah. It had a slide mass of 55 million cubic meters (compared to an estimated 10 million cubic meters during the Oso event in 2014, see image below). Fortunately, no one was injured or killed during the Utah slide. 

Landslides impact California’s terrain often. These are generally related to precipitation patterns, in particular if there has been previous months of drought conditions. Early this year, across Southern California, heavy rain was causing numerous mudslides and road closures in burn scar areas from recent wildfires. The image below clearly shows what type of enormous devastation we are talking about [the death toll was 20]. That area was previously burned by the Thomas fire, the biggest wildfire in CA’s recorded history, so it is not surprise that heavy rain provoked this mudslides, as the soil had no holding vegetation left. It is very possible this will repeat in the state later in the year after the big storms/rain hit.

This USGS page has information on how to identify landslides and what to do if one happens. If you want to know if you are living in a risk area, you can access maps like the USGS below that shows the Emergency Assessment of Post-Fire Debris-Flow Hazards.

Stay informed and safe-