OSO, Wash. – Announcement of a potential landslide near Oso, brings back memories for those still grieving family and friends lost in the 2014 disaster.
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SLIDE NEAR OSO
SLIDE NEAR OSO
“All day today I have just been on edge,” said Dayn Brunner. Brunner lost his sister in 2014, she was driving the same section of State Route 530 that was closed out of precaution yesterday.
“My heart started hurting again. It just brought back a flood of emotions,” he said of the announcement.
Nearly a dozen families have been notified of a voluntary evacuation, 10 families have accepted, leaving Friday night. The slide is less than two miles from the 2014 landslide that killed 43 people, including Brunner’s sister, in 2014.
“If no further movement occurs on the slope, we will be able to open it on Monday,” said Dave Mccormick, regional maintenance engineer with WSDOT. “If additional movement happens, we’re going to keep the road closed for an extended period of time.”
Brunner said the closure has cut off his normal access to larger cities. His normal 35 minute commute has jumped to over two and a half hours.
“I would much rather see that and have that happen than what happened in 2014. My sister was the only one killed driving on that road,” he said.
Officials during a press conference on Saturday morning said it’s out of an extreme abundance of caution they closed 530 and issued voluntary evacuation notices.
“Now that we have this local knowledge, we have to be on the other side of caution when we tell people ‘look you are underneath this,’” said Assistant Oso Fire Chief, Toby Hyde.
The slide is roughly 25 acres, geologists said they are still determining if it’s lurching or gradually falling. They said areas have dropped up to four feet.
“I would be concerned about it, absolutely,” said Dave Norman, a geologist for Washington State Department of Natural Resources, when asked if he were in homeowners’ shoes near the slide.
The Department of Natural Resources, WSDOT, county officials and Seattle City Light have all teamed up since Friday night to monitor the slide. Many of them responded to the slide in 2014, and are working the weekend to make sure families aren’t caught in a second slide.
“The 2014 slide definitely weighs heavy on people’s hearts and minds and no one ever wants to go through that or lose anything, especially the loss of life ever again,” said Brunner.