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<br />LOVELAND DAILY REPORTER-HERALD
<br />
<br />MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1985 8
<br />
<br />Mudslides take heavy toll in '85
<br />
<br />By The Associated Press
<br />The Rocky Mountains aren't sup-
<br />posed to move, Yet the damage
<br />from 1985 mud3lides and landslides
<br />in Colorado totals $20 million, offi-
<br />cials say.
<br />"The nwnber of sUdes in the
<br />state has tripled in the past two
<br />years and continued through this
<br />year," said Pat Rogers, chief of
<br />engineering and environmental ge-
<br />ology for the Colorado Geological
<br />Survey. "Usually by July, the ac-
<br />tivity cools off, but it didn't."
<br />A mudslide Is a mass of soil and
<br />rock on a s~p slope that tears
<br />loose and comes down at a rapid
<br />rate. A landslide moves more slow-
<br />ly than a mudslide, but generally is
<br />larger.
<br />EI.~pt for a mudflow that has
<br />threatened the town of Morrison's
<br />water treatment plant since June,
<br />southwest of Denver, all this year's
<br />slide acdvity has occurred in west-
<br />ern Colorado.
<br />"The geology on the Western
<br />Slope is conducive to mudslides,"
<br />said Bob Moston, district engineer
<br />in Grand Junction for the Colorado
<br />Highway Department.
<br />The $20 million worth of damage,
<br />Rogers said, came when moving
<br />masses of muck chewed under and
<br />across highways, toppled power
<br />lines, yanked out rall lines and
<br />threatened homes.
<br />Among.the damage:
<br />- A slide April 16 took out the
<br />roadbed of the Denver & Rio Gran-
<br />de line In Grand County, causing
<br />an Amtrak derailinent in which 26
<br />passengers were injured.
<br />- A .series of slides in June, in
<br />Eagle County between Vail and
<br />Minturn, gnawed at U.S. 24 and
<br />buckled sections of Interstate 70.
<br />
<br />
<br />How mud slides occur
<br />
<br />- A mudflow in July on Snow-
<br />mass Mountain pulled out a ski tift
<br />and blocked a road.
<br />- A slide at Vega Reservoir,
<br />east of Grand Junction, toppled one
<br />vacation home, tifted the founda-
<br />tion of another and cost Mesa
<br />County $85,000 in road repairs, said
<br />Mark Eckert, assistant county ad-
<br />ministrator.
<br />- Fifteen slides on Colorado 50
<br />along Blue Mesa Reservoir, be-
<br />tween Gunnison and Montrose,
<br />knocked an $810,000 hole in the
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<br />state highway department's main-
<br />tenance budget.
<br />- A slide in the North Fork Val.
<br />ley near Paonia on Aug, 20 pulled
<br />out a US-kilovolt power line and
<br />threatens another.
<br />All the slides resulted from high
<br />snowfall, runoff and rain.
<br />"It has been one of the wettest
<br />tw~year periods in recorded cli~
<br />maUc history in Colorado, which
<br />goes back about 50 years in the
<br />mountains," said Nolan Doesken,
<br />state climatologi!rt.
<br />
<br />Colorado's dampest section runs
<br />from the Utah border east to Vall
<br />and e:rtends about 50 to 60 miles on
<br />either side of the 1-70 corridor,
<br />Ooesken said,
<br />Last year. six slides shoved tons
<br />of muck down on Vail. This spring,
<br />Vail passed an ordinan~ !requir-
<br />ing developers in "geologically
<br />sensitive areas" or slide areas to
<br />analyze the site's stability before
<br />obtalnlng a building permit.
<br />Jay Hammond, Aspen director of
<br />public services, said drainage bas
<br />been improved in the Snowmass
<br />Mountain slide area, Jim Slan-
<br />ning, a resident who mines on the
<br />mountain, disagrees.
<br />"1be snowmalting pipes under-
<br />neath are all that are holding it to-
<br />gether," 8lanning said. "It is
<br />moving very slowly and very quiet-
<br />ly, but It is going to eat the town. to
<br />Several developers have been
<br />sued by homebuyers who lost their
<br />homes to slides. Town building au-
<br />thorities also are liable, said Bob
<br />Kistner, public assistance officer
<br />for the Colorado Division or Emer-
<br />gency Services.
<br />Kistner was federal recovery
<br />manager In Utah after the Thistle
<br />slide in 1983 caused $200 million
<br />worth of damage.
<br />"There is nothing you can do to
<br />stop them," Kistner said. "Utah
<br />has spent $100 million Clghting
<br />floods and mudslides in the last two
<br />or three years. I don't think Colora-
<br />do people are ready to spend that
<br />kind of bucks."
<br />Preventive measures are expen-
<br />sive and not always effective, said
<br />Ro~ers,
<br />"When people ask if there Is any.
<br />thing we can do to stop it. frequent-
<br />ly the answer is 'no,'" Rogers said.
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