Excessive Rain Leads to Massive Rock Slides

[SlowModem]

Rock slide on Highway 64 in Polk County has traffic rerouted


This is the second rock slide around here lately.  Recently,  there was a massive rock slide that  closed Interstate 40 through the "gorge" where the interstate winds through the Smoky Mountains.

[DaculaWeather]

I never trusted some of those "cut through" roads. I went to college at UT and spent WAAAY too much time in the mountains on those roads, I always had a fear that some huge bolder would come crashing down on my head!

[sflindsey]

Ouch!!  My wife and I have driven through that area a few times enroute to Asheville.  Very pretty drive but you had to figure that sometime there was going to be some sort of problem.  Hopefully noone has been injured.

[SlowModem]

The story on this video is that the news crew arrived after the rock slide.  While they were there, another rock about the size of a house fell.  Then the TDOT state  geologist arrived and told everybody to leave the area, that another slide was imminent.  So, this video is the slide that occurred.  It's rare that someone is at the right place at the right time.

PS:  To go from Chattanooga, TN to Murphy, NC requires a 120-mile detour now.

Rock Slide

[DanS]

Wow! Can't imagine driving through there at the same time!

[sam2004gp]

Watched the video, Amazing how that it all started when a small rock slipped away.

[SlowModem]

Well, there's been another one today.  This one was southwest of Chattanooga at the base of Lookout Mountain:

Rockslide on Scenic Highway
Posted: Nov 11, 2009 8:22 AM EST Updated: Nov 11, 2009 8:22 AM EST

CHATTANOOGA (WRCB) -- Police are investigating a Chattanooga rockslide.

The slide happened at 6:45am Wednesday on Scenic Highway near the Cummings Highway intersection. That's at the foot of Lookout Mountain on the side of the Ruby Falls. Police say no one was injured.


I think some of the effects of the weather is cumulative.  There's too many all at once for it to be coincidence.

Also, there has also been some seismic activity lately (very small tremors, but I think that adds into the mix as well).  I learned this recently:

The Eastern Tennessee Seismic Zone is a geographic area subject to frequent small earthquakes which stretches from northeast Alabama to southwest Virginia. The Eastern Tennessee Seismic Zone (ETSZ) is also known as the East Tennessee Seismic Zone and the Southern Appalachian Seismic Zone. The area is one of the most active earthquake zones in the eastern United States.

Personally, I think this may have contributed to the ash dike spill at Kingston, TN.  At the time, there had been heavy rain, seismic activity, plus freezing and thawing.  But, I'm sure geologists and lawyers will get to the root cause of that event.

[SlowModem]

I found some updated sites about this today.  US-64 will be closed for at least 2 months.  

Aerial Photos


Tennessee Dept. of Transportation

[ocala]

My buddy lives in western NC. He's been telling me about these.
Here's a video from the latest one.
http://geology.com/news/2009/tennessee-rockslide-spectacular-video.shtml

[SlowModem]

The sad part is that there's a 128-mile detour because of the mountainous terrain and lack of roads in that area.

Map

[Scalphunter]

 Different state but same cause Yhey had a mud slide  in downtowm Juneau. 75 people evacuate. Last report they where letting  people back in to there homes but on a fast alert to leave again. Freeze was helping to stable the slid. Juneau is the worst city to live in for slides and avalanches  due to the  topo there . steep mountains and narrow city between the mountains and the sea,

John
KL7IFP

[Scalphunter]

 Here news story and some pixs http://juneauempire.com/stories/111609/loc_517185541.shtml

John
KL7IFP

[SlowModem]

Since the last posting, there have been two more rockslides, one was today.  They said on the news tonight that we're +7 inches ahead for the year for rainfall.  Also, there is more seismic activity around here than people realize.  What is amazing is that no one has been hurt by these falling rocks.

http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2009/dec/13/rock-slide-closes-scenic-highway/

[DanS]

I wonder if there are any homes located in positions like those roadways are?

[WeatherHost]

Some in SoCal too.

The storm also sent mud and rocks sweeping down on roadways. Parts of a 12-mile stretch of the Angeles Crest Highway just north of Los Angeles were buried by mud and rock, prompting authorities to close the road while crews cleared the scene, said county fire Capt. Frank Reynoso. No injuries were reported.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9CI8NP81&show_article=1&catnum=1

[SlowModem]

I wonder if there are any homes located in positions like those roadways are?

I'm sure that there are.  All the uber rich folks seem to build their houses on the edges of bluffs around here.   

I'm starting to think that when they built the roads around here, there must have been a "school of thought" among the engineers concerning how to cut through mountains.  It seems that over time, that philosophy has not borne out.   

Another problem, especially with the freeway system, is that the routes and land purchases were very political and lots of money changed among a very few hands back then.  Thus the roads didn't go among the optimum or safest route.  We have the best government that money can buy.   

[W Thomas]

I wonder if there are any homes located in positions like those roadways are?

I'm sure that there are.  All the uber rich folks seem to build their houses on the edges of bluffs around here.   

I'm starting to think that when they built the roads around here, there must have been a "school of thought" among the engineers concerning how to cut through mountains.  It seems that over time, that philosophy has not borne out.   

Another problem, especially with the freeway system, is that the routes and land purchases were very political and lots of money changed among a very few hands back then.  Thus the roads didn't go among the optimum or safest route.  We have the best government that money can buy.   

I was watching channel 11 news out of Johnson City and heard them say that the slide on 321 is just about cleaned up due to the rocks breaking into small enough pieces to get moved easily. Wonder how close to true that is?

"We have the best government that money can buy.     "

Amen to that !!!!!

[SlowModem]

The recent week-long deep freeze and now the thawing and raining is leading to more rock slides.

[Greysquirrel]

To show how brain dead drivers are that use a GPS, up to 2 weeks after the slide of Rt. 40 the DOT had signs up for over a 100 miles saying the highway was closed at exit 22, these signs said what route to take to avoid the road closure yet people still ended up at the roadblock and complained that their GPS did not tell them the road was closed. I guess no one carries maps anymore or even know how to read one.

[SlowModem]

To show how brain dead drivers are that use a GPS, up to 2 weeks after the slide of Rt. 40 the DOT had signs up for over a 100 miles saying the highway was closed at exit 22, these signs said what route to take to avoid the road closure yet people still ended up at the roadblock and complained that their GPS did not tell them the road was closed. I guess no one carries maps anymore or even know how to read one.

I guess the devil is in the details!   

[WeatherHost]

They say that Facebook will be the downfall of our society.  I think it night be GPS devices.  If they crash for some reason, no one will no how to get anywhere since no one can read maps anymore even if they have an old one.

I'm waiting for the day some hacker finds their way into one of the mapping systems and throws everything of by a few degrees. They wouldn't be able to get into the master satellite system, but they might get into one of the vendors' update systems and send out a bad update.

[SLOweather]

They say that Facebook will be the downfall of our society.  

Who are "they"?