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oso

Overlays of affected areas from Oso landslide

Last week we showed you some imagery from the landslide in Oso, Washington and this week we’re back with a few overlays from James Baker that help explain things a bit more.

oso landslide overlay

James has created two overlays; one that shows the outline of the extent of the previous landslide, and one that shows the source of the recent slide and run-out areas.

• KMZ of pre-slide area
• KMZ of post-slide area

In addition, he’s created a simple KMZ file that shows the Devils Mountain fault running directly through the affected area. You can download that KMZ here, and see a screenshot of it below.

devils mountain fault

Great work, James!

The landslide near Oso, Washington

Last weekend, rainfall triggered a massive landslide near Oso, Washington that killed at least 24 people. There have been many news reports about the event, but I believe NASA is the first to provide satellite imagery of the area post-landslide.

oso landslide

The imagery isn’t particularly sharp, but it shows the massive scale of the landslide. In addition, the landslide has blocked the Stillaguamish River, creating a barrier lake and flooding additional homes. While the timing is always unknown for events like this, the possibility has existed for years:

According to Durham University geologist Dave Petley, the landslide was a reactivation of an earlier landslide that caused problems in 1988 and 2006. The Seattle Times has reported that retired US. Geological Survey geologist Daniel Miller warned the hillside had the “potential for a large catastrophic failure” in a report filed with U.S. Corp of Engineers in 1999.

You can read more about this image on the NASA Earth Observatory site or grab this KML file to view it directly in Google Earth.