OSO, Wash. (AP) — The discovery of a slow-moving landslide near the site of a 2014 Washington state mudslide that killed 43 people has prompted transportation officials to close a state highway until Thursday.
Crews with the Washington Department of Transportation were notified last week about ground movement near Montague Creek along the south side of State Route 530 near the tiny northwestern town of Oso. On Friday, crews saw additional movement at the site and the road was closed as a precaution. The area is about 60 miles (97 kilometers) northeast of Seattle.
Geologists say the mudslide is the “reactivation of small portion of a previous landslide,” said Shari Ireton, spokeswoman for the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office.
Officials believe that recent heavy rains most likely contributed to the ground movement.
Authorities sent out a voluntary evacuation notice to about a dozen homes in the area.
The new landslide is about two miles west of the site of a deadly March 2014 mudslide that buried the highway under as much as 20 feet (6.1 meters) of mud and killed the 43 people.
Tiffany Robles told KOMO-TV she decided to stay at a hotel Friday night instead of taking a long detour to get to get home. The highway closure means people wanting to travel between Oso and the town of Darrington must take an alternate route that adds at least an hour to each trip.
The new mudslide also worried Robles because “just hearing that whatever was going on was enough to close the road was pretty scary. It’s like a post-traumatic kinda thing … we were right there when it happened in 2014.”
Geologists were monitoring the site before deciding whether to reopen the highway to traffic.
Geologists believe there’s potential for a slide and will assess the area before re-opening the highway to traffic.
“There’s still a heightened risk that this slide could still move,” said Assistant Regional Administrator Dave McCormick of the state transportation department.
Cracks that were 6 inches (15 centimeters) wide last Tuesday had grown to 2 feet (60 centimeters) by last weekend and a hillside dropped about 4 feet (1.2 meters).
