Some Homeowners Near Landslide Didn't Know The Danger

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Story Published: Oct 15, 2009 at 6:16 PM PDT

By Peter Bukowski

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NEAR NACHES -- Sandra Wommock was just down the road from the massive slab of earth that slid through homes, roads and a river on Sunday.

"I couldn't believe it because of the sound. I mean I could see the rocks coming down, but the sound."

Looking back, it could be the sound of a warning to others living in the area. Wommock now understands the risk she's facing from nearly every direction.

"I had no idea. It was a shock," says Wommock.

A 2003 survey by the U.S. Geologic Survey showed the risk of rockslides in Yakima County. The exact spot of this landslide was clearing marked as high risk. So is the area where Wommock has lived for the last three years.

Some of the houses are right up against the mountainside. Even after a disaster like this, they say it's not enough to make them move.

Other folks don't have a choice. Rushing water from the displaced Naches has ripped through homes. The county will have to level them to reroute the river.

"The river is going to go through those houses whether we take them or the river takes them, the river is going to go through. We need to minimize the damage here, downstream and potentially upstream," says Vern Redifer, the Director of Public Services for Yakima County.

And if the county can't get the river to cooperate, even more homes could be in danger.

"If uncontrolled the river could rip it's way though much of the area."

Still not even a shifting river or shifting mountains have convinced some landowners to pack it up.

I asked Wommock if she considered leaving. "No, no. I would stay here," she said simply.

The resolve in this community clearly goes all the way down to the bedrock.

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