Landslide Takes Out Road, Now Community Must Start Over

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Story Published: Oct 12, 2009 at 6:12 PM PDT

By Peter Bukowski

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NACHES -- The rumble of rocks and earth woke resident along State Route 410 to a startling sight.

"It had pushed my cousin's house off its foundation, so we started to check it out, we could hear the ground moving underneath," says Rebecca Simmons, whose house was also moved up and off of its foundation.

A landslide had barreled down on them, moving everything in its path.

"Our house use to be below the highway, you would drive down into our driveway. So that's all been pushed up," Simmons said.

They're calling it a teeter totter effect, rock from the hillside pushing rock on the other side all the way up. And it's creating some strange situations. The river bed is now 30 or 40 feet above the water.

But the water has to go somewhere, running off wherever there's an opening. Flood water and fallen rock have knocked out power to hundreds and created a permanent road block.

Jim Hall, the Director of Emergency Services for Yakima County says, "The two big priorities for the area is one, to get the power back on so people can stay warm and have some creature comforts, water and such. The second is to get some kind of road access on the canyon so people can get to work."

But there's plenty of work for people here just to get by until tomorrow.

"Oh it's devastating, but what do you do? You go on, you go forward," offered Simmons.

Crews from dozens of local organizations are out here restoring order in this mess, many reflecting on the miracle no one was killed. The reality for people like Rebecca is that it's time to start over.

"We've started to dig out from a major event. And the future will bring some changes," says Hall.

Permanent changes to both the landscape and the people.

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