https://www.earthmagazine.org/tags/debris-flow/ Recent content in Debris Flow on EARTH Magazine Hugo en-US American Geosciences Institute. All rights reserved. Mon, 05 May 2014 14:40:56 -0400 https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/voices-oso-landslide/ Mon, 05 May 2014 14:40:56 -0400 https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/voices-oso-landslide/ <figure class="earth-figure"> <img src="https://www.americangeosciences.org/static/earth/voices-oso-landslide/LandslidePhoto_USGSJonathanGodt.jpg" alt="Aerial photograph of the upper parts of the Oso landslide that occurred in northwest Washington on March 22, 2014. Credit: Jonathan Godt, USGS." loading="eager" decoding="async"> <figcaption>Aerial photograph of the upper parts of the Oso landslide that occurred in northwest Washington on March 22, 2014. Credit: Jonathan Godt, USGS.</figcaption> </figure> <p>Prior to March 2014, the Steelhead Drive neighborhood in Arlington, Wash. — on the banks of the north fork of the Stillaguamish River about an hour northwest of Seattle — comprised 45 houses, 25 of which were occupied year-round. Then, just before 11 a.m. on Saturday, March 22, the hill across the Stillaguamish River came tumbling down. More than 7.5 million cubic meters of debris, travelling at velocities up to 100 kilometers per hour, engulfed the community. In minutes, all 45 houses on Steelhead Drive were destroyed, along with nearly half a kilometer of highway SR530. At the time of this writing, 41 people had been declared dead and two were still missing, making the Oso landslide one of the deadliest in American history.</p> https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/voices-wildfires-and-debris-flows-federal-mud/ Fri, 20 Jan 2012 03:51:09 -0500 https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/voices-wildfires-and-debris-flows-federal-mud/ <h4 id="los-angeles-weather-is-the-weather-of-catastrophe-of-apocalypse-and-just-as-the-reliably-long-and-bitter-winters-of-new-england-determine-the-way-life-is-lived-there-so-the-violence-and-the-unpredictability-of-the-santa-ana-affect-the-entire-quality-of-life-in-los-angeles-accentuate-its-impermanence-its-unreliability-the-wind-shows-us-how-close-to-the-edge-we-are">&ldquo;Los Angeles weather is the weather of catastrophe, of apocalypse, and, just as the reliably long and bitter winters of New England determine the way life is lived there, so the violence and the unpredictability of the Santa Ana affect the entire quality of life in Los Angeles, accentuate its impermanence, its unreliability. The wind shows us how close to the edge we are.&rdquo;</h4> <h4 id="-joan-didion-california-author">&ndash; Joan Didion, California author</h4> <p>In 2010, California was struck by 6,656 wildfires, due in large part to the strong and extremely dry Santa Ana Winds that sweep through Southern California and northern Baja California in the late fall and winter. These fires often lead to debris flows after the winter rains set in.</p>