Slow-moving slide poses an increasing threat
jackson, wyo. No one can say precisely when the mountainside collapsing into thisWyoming resort town will give way. But it appears increasingly likely that when it does, it’s going to take a piece of Jackson with it.
Workers and residents have watched helplessly in recent days as the slow-motion landslide spanning hundreds of yards split a house in two and inched ever closer to a cluster of businesses below.
Standing at the edge of the slide zone, its rocky slope rising sharply behind him, Jackson Fire ChiefWillyWatsabaugh said the rate of movement slowed Saturday, giving crews a chance to get back in and reassess the damage.
Yet the fate of the businesses, houses and apartment buildings in the slide zone remained in doubt. Experts brought in to assist the town said it was unknown when the slide will come to a rest.
Efforts taken to stop it— including the erection of large concrete walls at the base of the slope— have proved futile.
The concrete walls had been pushed around by the shifting ground and were leaning away from the slope Saturday, when they were relocated to support a makeshift road being built to give heavy equipment better access to the site.
“We’re up against the earth, and the earth’s movement is an extremely powerful thing,” Watsabaugh said.
What triggered the geologic event remains under investigation. Associated Press