Search and rescue crews continue to work near the towns of Oso and
Darrington a week after a mudslide left at least 24 people dead and numerous others missing.
The Darrington area, about 55 miles northeast of Seattle, experienced higher-than-normal rainfall, which may have triggered more than a square mile of earth to dislodge and cascade downhill. But other questions remain unanswered. The death toll has continued to rise as workers sift through the rubble that destroyed at least 30 homes.
‘Potential for a Catastrophic Failure’
The Seattle Times has uncovered a 1999 report filed with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that warned of “the potential for a catastrophic failure” at the site of the landslide.
“We’ve known it would happen at some point. We just didn’t know when,” Daniel J. Miller, co-author of the report, told the Times.
If this catastrophe was predictable, why are we only hearing of this now, after so many lives have been lost?