7:13 AM Wed, Oct 08, 2008 | Permalink
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The owners of the house at 6438 Burlingame Place should buy lottery tickets! Looking at the pictures of destruction it's hard to believe the woman living in the home escaped unharmed! The home slide down at 40 degree slope for over 300ft.
The big question now is what caused the slide? I don't think the small amount of rain we've had in the last 24 hours caused the earth to let loose. The airport reported less than .25" on Tuesday, by northwest standards that's a sprinkle. Other factors, such as underground springs might be a cause. We know the Westhills are peppered with them. City of Portland engineers on scene will be looking to see if a water or sewer main might have broken causing the soil to let loose. If construction was going on in the area the movement of dirt or cutting of trees could have been a cause. Geologist are on scene and investigating, but it might be days or weeks before an answer is known.
One more note. I want to give a big kudos to Darren Larson and Jim Culp, aboard SKY 8. The chopper was flying routine traffic patrol this morning. Almost as soon as they heard about the slide they were on scene. Darrn and Jim aboard SKY 8 gave us the first live pictures and the only airborne pictures showing the incredible damage. Good Job Guys!!!
Regards
Dave
"If construction was going on in the area the movement of dirt or cutting of trees could have been a cause."
Actually construction and development having occurred years ago could have contributed to this landslide. A 1996 study of landslides by PSU geologists found that roughly 70% landslides in the Portland-Metro area during the 1996 floods (some 630 landslides) were linked to poorly planned land-use practices on steep or unstable slopes. The most common human cause of landslides appeared to be mismanaged stormwater run-off that contributed to slope instability. The report is available online at:
http://www.urbanfauna.org/files/metrosld.doc
Burns, S.F, Burns, W.J., James, D. H., and Hinkle, J.C. 1998. Landslides in the Portland, Oregon Metropolitan Area Resulting from the Storm of February 1996: Inventory Map, Database and Evaluation, prepared for Metro by the Department of Geology at Portland State University, pp. 37.
Jim Labbe
Audubon Society of Portland
The BOP keeps downplaying the danger of this happening when the issue is brough up in hearings.
Put on the blinders, PDX, this can't be happening here ...
When it happened in Linnton on Harbor Blvd, it was chalked up as a fluke by the City folks.
PDX Double Standard
Isn't it interesting that the city says that homeowners have the responsiblity to fix their property, but they don't have the authority to do their own remodelling-- they have to get that authority from the city.