Major Disaster Declared in Washington State

EXTREME WEATHER & CLIMATIC EVENTS
FLOODING & MUDSLIDES
FEDERAL DISASTER DECLARED
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White House Declares Federal Disaster in the State of Washington

The Oval Office Occupant (30) has declared a major disaster in the State of Washington  in the area affected by flooding and mudslides beginning on March 22, 2014, and continuing.

The worst affected by the disaster are individuals in Snohomish County, including the Sauk-Suiattle, Stillaguamish, and Tulalip Tribes.

FEMA said additional designations may be made at a later date if requested by the state and warranted by the results of further damage assessments.

Death Toll

The death from mudslide in Oso that wiped out a community om March 22, has risen to at least 30, with 13 people still missing.

Massive walls of mud, rock and debris buried the community destroying dozens of homes after a rain-soaked hillside collapsed above the north fork of Stillaguamish River.

A 54m (177ft) wall of rain-sodden earth separated from foothills of the Cascade Mountains along the Stillaguamish River, leaving a trail of  mud, rock and debris up to 5m deep. It buried communities  near the town of Oso, north of Seattle.  FIRE-EARTH estimates the slide moved about 50 million tons of mud, rock and debris. Photo: WSDOT, Handout.

Related Links

• Community Vanishes in Deadly Oso Slide March 25, 2014
• Death Toll Climbs in Washington Landslide March 24, 2014

No Survivors, Bodies Found after Tibet Major Landslide

Latest Global Landslides

Tibet

Some 89  mine workers were buried in a Major landslide in Tibet on Thursday, but NO survivors or bodies have been found yet!

A major landslide in a gold-mining area of Tibet, in Maizhokunggar County of Lhasa, capital of southwest China’s Tibet Autonomous Region left 83 workers buried.  Rescuers had not found any survivors or bodies 28 hours after the massive collapse. Credit: Xinhua/Zhang Quan. Image may be subject to copyright. More images…

• The miners’ camp, located at an altitude of 4,600m, was buried by an estimated 200,000 tons of rock, which covered a 4km² area.

• Meantime, 28 miners were killed and 13 others injured in a coalmine gas blast in northeast China’s Jilin Province on Friday. The explosion occurred at at Babao Coal Mine in Jiangyuan District in the city of Baishan, authorities said.

Whidbey Island, Washington, USA

Large landslide probably part of greater landslide complex, a legacy of the Puget Sound’s glacial past: Geologists

Image Credit: Ted S. Warren/AP photo. Image may be subject to copyright.

A large landslide on Whidbey Island, about 50 miles north of Seattle, has destroyed at least one home, and left four others under evacuation orders Friday. The slide has also isolated or threatens at least 32 other homes.

• The slide area, part of greater landslide complex, a legacy of the Puget Sound’s glacial past, probably dates back to about 11,000 years ago, State geologists said.

• The landslide displaced about quarter of a million cubic yards of earth.

• The landslide has a 400m wide front on the beach and extends about 100m into the sound.

Related Links

• Image of the Day: Mudslide on Whidbey Island  April 4, 2009