Massive rockslide in the North Cascades
Very interesting news from back in the territory of the Skagit River: The Seattle Times: Rockslide traps tiny town of Diablo; officials warily watching mountainside
I've been to Diablo twice, and it's breathtaking. The little company town of Seattle City Light is built alongside the Skagit River gorge, which carves its way through the North Cascade mountains - often called "America's Alps" for their ruggedness and beauty. The dams built here to contain the Skagit are marvels, and they provide much of the power to the city of Seattle.
Sunday morning 3 million cubic yards of rock broke loose from the mountain face and came crashing down across Highway 20 (the "North Cascades Highway") just east of Newhalem, making it impossible to reach Diablo. Just to put that in perspective, imagine a large football stadium, 250 yards long by 150 yards wide. If you piled up all the rock that fell Sunday inside that stadium, you'd have a heap of rock as tall as a medium-sized skyscraper - 30 storeys. Think of that: The Metrodome, only half as tall as the IDS Center!
The only other way out of Diablo is down Hwy. 20 to the east, through Winthrop... but other repairs are needed in that direction before the road is passable.
Diablo has been cut off from the rest of the world before, but this is a pretty spectacular instance of being isolated. Currently only a single-lane emergency road along the rubble has been cleared, and it's quite likely that more of the mountain could come crashing down with the rainstorms in the forecast this weekend. Otherwise, Diablo is only accessible by helicopter.
There's been a lot of natural catastrophe back in my internship stomping grounds this fall. It's probably a good thing I'm in North Dakota now, where all Mom has to worry about is blizzards and rogue deer. ;)
I've been to Diablo twice, and it's breathtaking. The little company town of Seattle City Light is built alongside the Skagit River gorge, which carves its way through the North Cascade mountains - often called "America's Alps" for their ruggedness and beauty. The dams built here to contain the Skagit are marvels, and they provide much of the power to the city of Seattle.
Sunday morning 3 million cubic yards of rock broke loose from the mountain face and came crashing down across Highway 20 (the "North Cascades Highway") just east of Newhalem, making it impossible to reach Diablo. Just to put that in perspective, imagine a large football stadium, 250 yards long by 150 yards wide. If you piled up all the rock that fell Sunday inside that stadium, you'd have a heap of rock as tall as a medium-sized skyscraper - 30 storeys. Think of that: The Metrodome, only half as tall as the IDS Center!
The only other way out of Diablo is down Hwy. 20 to the east, through Winthrop... but other repairs are needed in that direction before the road is passable.
Diablo has been cut off from the rest of the world before, but this is a pretty spectacular instance of being isolated. Currently only a single-lane emergency road along the rubble has been cleared, and it's quite likely that more of the mountain could come crashing down with the rainstorms in the forecast this weekend. Otherwise, Diablo is only accessible by helicopter.
There's been a lot of natural catastrophe back in my internship stomping grounds this fall. It's probably a good thing I'm in North Dakota now, where all Mom has to worry about is blizzards and rogue deer. ;)
posted by Bob at
12:29 PM
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