Washington mudslide: before and after photos show scale of destruction

Updated

About 100 homes were hit by a mudslide in rural north-west Washington state when a rain-soaked hillside collapsed into a river and blocked a state road.

It is the deadliest US landslide in almost a decade, with 27 people confirmed dead and 22 people still listed as missing.

Explore these interactive images to see how the landscape changed following the mudslide:

A 2.6-square-kilometre area of destruction was left as the mudslide - up to 4.5 metres deep in some areas - made its way down the Stillaguamish River and engulfed about three dozen homes on the outskirts of the town of Oso in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains, northeast of Seattle.

Experts had warned of possible landslides in the area, and say a combination of recent rain, the silty composition of the hillside, and the cutting in by the river at the bottom, made this mudslide more likely to happen.

Compounding the sense of urgency was fear of flooding, as water levels rose behind a crude dam of mud and rubble dumped into the North Fork of the Stillaguamish River. The river was rising with rain, but workers had cut a channel through fresh mud and debris, reducing the risk of flooding.

Photos: Before – Google; After – Before – Google; After – Jay Inslee /Washington State Dept of Transportation

Some remains may never be recovered, and some survivors from the community say the site should ultimately be turned into a memorial or park.

Photos: Before – Flickr/ Before – Flickr/ Jorge Lascar ; After – AFP/Sergei Supinsky

Daniel Miller, a geologist and author of a 1999 study for the US Army Corps of Engineers that warned of the potential for a "large catastrophic failure" in the vicinity of the collapsed hillside, said additional slides in the area were likely.

Photos: Before – Flickr/ Before – Flickr/ Jorge Lascar ; After – AFP/Sergei Supinsky

"I don't think anybody should be living there," Mr Miller said. "It would be okay to do something like a park but I don't think there should be houses down there."





Credits

Reporting: Kate Brownlie-Smith and Cristen Tilley

Kate Brownlie-Smith and Cristen Tilley Additional reporting: Reuters

Reuters Satellite imagery: Google/DigitalGlobe

Google/DigitalGlobe Design: Ben Spraggon

Ben Spraggon Development: Simon Elvery

Simon Elvery Editor: Matthew Liddy

Topics: landslide, united-states

First posted