Landslide stages a second act in Oregon town

ASTORIA, ORE. —  It’s more of a land-creep than a landslide. The stretch of hillside started to move 53 years ago, then stopped. In January, it started to move again at the rate of about an inch a day.

Now, 600 million pounds of earth and debris are making their way down the hill toward the Columbia River, in sight of the Astoria-Megler Bridge that links Oregon and Washington.

“It’s a wedge of land moving down,” said Ken Cook, public works director in this town of about 10,000 people.

He points to a house at the top of the hill.

“You see that Victorian, the brown one -- it is right on the edge of the slide zone. It used to have a twin next door, both built in the 1880s. That one went in 1954.”

A road near the bottom of the slide bulges more than a foot above the curb. Another, halfway up the hill, is split by a ravine 15 feet deep and 12 feet wide.

The first cracks appeared in early January, and the gap is growing.

“One weekend in March we had a lot of rain, and the road dropped 8 to 10 feet,” Cook said. “But most of the movement has been gradual.”

No houses are in immediate danger. After 18 homes were damaged in the earlier slide, the city bought the land and never allowed it to be redeveloped, despite the area’s commanding view of the river.

In addition to closing damaged roads, the city has rerouted fiber optic cable, water lines and sewage pipes above ground. A gravel road has been built so residents will still have access to their homes should the worst happen.

“The geotechnical engineers tell us it is unlikely to suddenly give way, but we’re watching it constantly,” City Manager Paul Benoit said.

In addition to public works crews, police and other city employees check the boundaries of the four-block area around the clock.

“We’d have plenty of warning,” Benoit said.

Astoria has spent $300,000 since the land started moving in January, representing about 5% of the city’s annual budget.

“We don’t have a special emergency fund for things like this,” Benoit said. “We are a small place with a big hole, and without financial assistance we won’t be able to do much about it.”

The city hopes money will come from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Without it, the city may not even be able to adequately study the problem.

It is clear that water is causing the slide. Rain lifted the city’s water table, Cook said, causing it to rise over the siltstone bedrock into the clay above. The slide zone sits between two siltstone walls, he said.

But the question is: When did the rain that caused the current slide fall?

President Bush declared two federal disasters in Oregon last winter, one in November because of rainstorms and one in December because of windstorms.

For Astoria to qualify for federal assistance, the city must prove to FEMA’s satisfaction that one of the storms caused the slide.

“Our hands are tied,” said FEMA spokeswoman Denise Everhart. “We have to have definitive proof that the slide is tied to one of these disasters -- that’s how FEMA works. If we get that, we can help the city with the money they’ve already spent on emergency measures, and we can help them moving forward.”

FEMA waived the 60-day deadline so the city could apply for aid under the November disaster declaration.

Teams from FEMA and the state inspected the slide in March. Benoit and Cook are confident that the geotechnical engineering firm they hired will be able to make the connection.

In the meantime, all they can do is watch and wait.

FEMA will make an initial determination on the city’s application for aid by the end of the month. Even if the money comes through, there is no quick fix.

“The engineers say there’s really nothing to do but wait till the land stops moving before any mitigating action can be taken,” Benoit said. “It has to dry out.”

The 1954 slide, like this one, started in January. No one knows when it stopped, Cook said.

“From the photographs, we know they were rebuilding the roads by October,” he said.

Everhart said Astoria was doing all the right things despite the uncertainty.

“I was really impressed with all the work that they’ve done -- relocating the infrastructure above ground, putting in the temporary road. They’ve been truly proactive,” she said.

Benoit is quick to praise city officials.

“The city showed a lot of foresight over the years,” he said. “There has been tremendous pressure to develop that land. Had that happened, this could have been much worse.”

lynn.marshall@latimes.com