NORTH VAN LANDSLIDE CLOSES TRAILS
Brings back memories of deadly 2005 incident nearby, but police say there’s no danger
A landslide that partially blocked the Seymour River in North Vancouver on Sunday morning has resulted in trails being closed in the area as a precautionary measure.
But police said no one was injured and there is no immediate threat to people or homes downstream from the river.
The slide took place about one kilometre from the end of Riverside Drive — just beneath the Twin Bridges — and the trailhead was cordoned off with police tape.
On Jan. 19, 2005, a landslide nearby led to the death of Eliza Kuttner, who was trapped in her home when the backyard of a property on Berkley Avenue collapsed due to excess water presence.
The District of North Vancouver conducted a lengthy geotechnical survey of the area known as the Berkley-Riverside Escarpment and found that six other slides had occurred between 1972 and the fatal 2005 slide. After the review, the district purchased a number of adjacent homes that were deemed too dangerous to inhabit.
North Vancouver RCMP Corp. Geoff Harder said engineers were inspecting Sunday’s slide site.
“It doesn’t appear there is any safety risk or any risks to the public at this point. There is going to be more assessments of it and we’ll see what we have going forward,” he said.
The safety of homes on lower portions of the Seymour River, which are nearest to the river, have been taken into account, Harder added.
“From what I am being told, the water levels down here are at the normal range, so at this point we are not concerned about the neighbourhood. We’re not concerned about houses or people’s safety,” added Harder.
Police were unable to say how much of the river was blocked off, but noted the river was still flowing.
Riverside Drive resident John Austin said that, with the water almost coming over top of the Twin Bridges, it was significant, as it was much higher than the normal water level.
Austin’s home is the last on Riverside Drive adjacent to the trailhead. He said he only learned of the landslide when police and other emergency personnel arrived in the morning.
Larry Hardisty, who lives in the 2300-block Riverside Drive, just south of the slide, said area residents still remember Eliza Kuttner and her husband, who was seriously injured in the 2005 slide.
“This is Mother Nature,” said Hardisty. “It is sheer rock up there.”
“I am worried about the east side,” he said. “They are going to have to look at all the hiking trails up there to make sure they’re safe.”