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Collapsing Terrain: Landslides / Landslips / Rockfalls / Etc.

Cult_of_Mana

Gone But Not Forgotten
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Story here

Six people have died and hundreds of tourists are trapped in Peru after mudslides near the historic ruins of Machu Picchu, authorities said.
The mudslides on Saturday morning cut off rail and road links between the Incan site and the city of Cuzco, local officials told Peruvian radio.

Several other people are missing and are feared dead, they said.

The officials appealed for help, saying the area could not be reached even by helicopter because of bad weather.

Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo was in the area when the landslides happened and was co-ordinating rescue efforts, his office said.

He was working on a TV travel programme on Peru.

The people died when an avalanche of rock and mud destroyed their homes in the town of Aguas Calientes, where one of the landslides occurred.

"I suspended all my activities to come to the zone that was hit by the avalanches," Mr Toledo said. "I'm with the people of Aguas Calientes, seeing their anguish and sadness."

Track repairs

The other slide, at the entrance to Machu Picchu, destroyed part of the railway line that carries tourists to and from the ancient citadel, 2,400m (7,782ft) high in the Andes.


No tourists were hurt or missing, officials said.

"Here in Aguas Calientes, only three houses by the river have been destroyed," said local Internet cafe owner, Luis.

"Now the situation is calm, everything is under control. Phone and fax lines are working and there is no shortage of food."

A spokeswoman for the Peru Rail company said repairs to the track had already started and it might be possible to evacuate the tourists on Sunday.

Up to 1,500 visitors were spending the Easter weekend at the historic site.

Some 400,000 people visit Peru's most famous tourist attraction every year.

The 15th century fortress, thought to have been built by the great Inca ruler Pachacutec, was rediscovered in 1911.


:( for the people killed.

I loved Peru. It's a very beautiful country and the inca ruins are very impressive.
 
Curse of the disappearing clifftop: Bungalows left teetering after 20ft of land was lost in a month
By CHRIS BROOKE Last updated at 09:20am on 14th April 2008

Perched on top of a cliff, the houses of Knipe Point were notable for their magnificent sea views.

But after a landslip of terrifying proportions, their position has changed from a blessing to a curse.

Up to 20ft of land has vanished in the last month, with 6ft apparently disappearing in a single night.

The result is that bungalows have been left teetering on the brink of a cliff, if not slightly over it. Owners were forced to evacuate after their back gardens and sections of patio disappeared.

Today, demolition experts will begin knocking down two condemned family homes on the North Yorkshire coast before they are claimed by the forces of nature.

Three further properties overlooking Cayton Bay, near Scarborough, are in the immediate danger zone... and more could go if the mysterious landslip continues to gobble up the cliff.

The owners do not know if insurance companies will pay out to cover the cost as the circumstances are so unusual. While the National Trust, which owns the surrounding land, said water had caused the damage, the problem is said to be unconnected to the more common problem of coastal erosion.

Kevin and Mary Lloyd, who have owned their detached house for 17 years, were told to remove their possessions only hours after Mr Lloyd had returned from hospital where he had a hip replaced. Near neighbours Moya Green, 72, and her husband John, 73, bought their home 28 years ago.

"It's extremely worrying," said Mrs Green. "The wood below used to be dry with a little stream and suddenly it has become a lake."

The National Trust's property manager Bob Dicker said: "The landslip is caused by water for the most part. What we don't know is where the water is coming from."

(Several pics on page.)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/a ... ge_id=1770
 
Landslip residents 'need answers'

Residents living near the scene of a coastal landslip say they are desperate to find the cause of the slide which has been claiming homes and gardens.

Demolition has already begun on a row of houses left teetering on a cliff edge at Knipe Point near Scarborough.

Bulldozers moved in after residents were told to leave their homes overlooking Cayton Bay in North Yorks.

Residents Association chairman David Stothard said the landslip had "come out of the blue."

Mr Stothard said: "The development of the site started about 25 to 30 years ago, and in that time the movement of the cliff edge has been minimal.

"It hasn't been a cause for concern at all, in fact when consultants looked at the coast strategy for Scarborough Council they didn't flag up land slippage at Knipe Point as an issue at all.

"They flagged up one or two coastal issues, but nothing about landslip, so this has come out of the blue."

People were told to leave after gardens and patios crumbled and fell 100ft (30.4m) below the houses which are built on National Trust land.

The National Trust said it was investigating why the land has slipped.

Two homes have already been demolished before the land below them crumbled way.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/nort ... 356000.stm
 
And in Germany...

Rügen: German island's 'white cliffs' collapsing into the sea
Tony Paterson in Berlin
Saturday, 19 April 2008

The towering chalk cliffs that form the spectacular coastline of the Baltic holiday island of Rügen have been immortalised by 19th- century Romantic painters and are Germany's equivalent of the white cliffs of Dover – but now they are collapsing into the sea.

Officials on Germany's largest island were yesterday forced to shut down a harbour on Rügen's north east coast and close kilometre-long stretches of beach because of fears that large swathes of its legendary cliffs would disintegrate and tumble into the Baltic Sea.

The emergency measures were announced after a 100-metre long section of cliff near the island port of Sassnitz fell into the sea on Wednesday, sending 20,000 cubic metres of chalk crashing several hundred feet on to the beach below. The landslide posed a serious threat to tourists, who visit Rügen in large numbers.

Island officials and conservation experts said yesterday that unusually high rainfall and record water table levels had caused the cliffs to become completely waterlogged, which made them particularly susceptible to disintegration and collapse. Tourists were warned to stay off all beaches beneath the cliffs.

Jörg Gothow, the spokesman for civil engineers monitoring the state of the cliffs, said that every second measuring device installed along one section showed that water content levels had topped last year's all-time high. "The water levels are extreme," he said.

Rügen's chalk cliffs feature in numerous works by the German Romantic painter Caspar David Friedrich, who visited the island frequently at the beginning of the 19th century. The cliffs, which offer panoramic views of the Baltic Sea and Germany's mainland coast, are the highlight of the island's national park and are visited by millions each year.

Aerial photographs of the island's north-east normally display a pristine coastline of shining white cliffs crowned by a large forest of beech trees. But pictures taken this week showed that huge swathes of cliff face had been stained brown by the flow of rainwater or had simply collapsed, crushing carefully-built wooden cliff stairways under heaps of sodden chalk. The latest casualty to suffer from the imminent threat of a cliff landslide is the small yacht and fishing harbour at the village of Lohme on Rügen's north coast. The harbour was allowed to disintegrate while Rügen was under Communist rule, but it was painstakingly restored after German reunification in 1990 and offered hotels, a pub-restaurant and facilities for yachts.

The harbour and the surrounding village are facing an uncertain future. "Because of the current situation we have been forced to shut down the entire harbour and the pub," Karl-Heinz Walter, a district official, said yesterday. He said a ban had been imposed on entering a number of other properties in the village because the cliff face above was unstable. "There is an extreme danger of further landslides ," he said.

A landslide first hit the village in March 2005, when a 100-metre section of cliff toppled into the harbour – nearly taking a retirement home with it. In recent years many sections of cliff face have collapsed on to Rügen's beaches or into the sea below.

A vista called Wissower Klinken, which forms a ravine in the cliffs, was captured by Friedrich in one of his paintings. The artist's view was permanently altered in early 2005 when a section of cliff depicted in the painting collapsed on to the beach below after heavy rain.

Geologists say the cliffs have always suffered from erosion resulting from hard frosts followed by a sudden thaw and the effects of wind and waves. However, the heavy rainfall experienced during recent winters, which coincides with scientific data about the warming of the Baltic Sea, appears to have dramatically worsened the problem.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/europ ... 11795.html

{Perhaps this thread should be in Earth Mysteries...?]
 
Chunk of clifftop garden falls into the sea
Clifftop erosion claims 6ft-long section of couple's land
Sam Jones guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 17 February 2009 16.22 GMT

Few property crashes are as devastatingly literal as the one recently experienced by the residents of Old Castle Road, Weymouth.

Ralph and Heather Cradick awoke last week to find the recent heavy rains had caused a landslide that left their clifftop garden 6ft shorter than it used to be.

The first hint that their coastal backyard was not exactly where they had left it the night before came when the retired couple noticed the view had changed.

"Behind the bushes, we could suddenly see the sea," said Mr Cradick. "We found about 6ft from a corner of the garden and [a section] about 15ft wide had gone."

The couple, who have lived in their home in the Dorset town for 15 years, remain philosophical despite the rapid erosion of their property, arguing that they still have 70ft of garden left.

The remaining chunk, they argue, should last another century. "At our age we are not likely to live that long, so it's not likely to affect us," said Mr Cradick.

Instead, their thoughts were with the man whose pottering could be severely limited – unless he knows how to abseil.

"It's caused more trouble to the neighbour, who had steps and a shed halfway down the cliff," said the retired company director. "The steps have been damaged badly and the shed has been pushed over altogether."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/feb/1 ... ion-dorset
 
Three people missing after two homes plunge over cliff during landslide
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 10:25 PM on 18th July 2009

Three people are missing after a lakeside cliff collapsed, sending two houses plummeting into the depths of a disused mineshaft.
The incident, which happened in the German town of Nachterstedt early this morning, saw a 350-metre stretch of shoreline collapse. One home was completely destroyed, and another split in half in the catastrophe.

Around seven other homes, now just a few feet from the drop, had a narrow escape.

The town, around 170km south of Berlin, is next to an old open-cast coal mine converted to a lake.
The missing people included a man and a couple, all believed to be aged in their 50s.

There had been heavy rain in the area, but experts say the mining activity had probably made the land unstable.
The stretch of land which collapsed into the lake is believed to be 350m long and 120m wide.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... slide.html
 
Californian road slides into the sea after heavy rains
A large chunk of a Los Angeles coastal road slips into the Pacific ocean following a mudslide caused by heavy storms.
[video of aftermath]
10:03PM GMT 21 Nov 2011

Huge 25-foot chasms and crevices appeared in the Paseo del Mar road in the San Pedro area of Los Angeles.
Sections of tarmac completely sank into the ocean taking power cables and street lights with it.

The stretch of road had been considered at risk for several months, and people had been warned to stay clear ahead of Sunday's storm.
The road had been shut before Sunday's landslide, and the mayor's office said no people were hurt or property damaged by the slip.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... rains.html
 
Time for a Landslides thread, they've killed a lot more people than was previously realised.

Wake up to the death toll from killer landslides
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg2 ... lides.html
22 October 2012 by Dave Petley

Rocks, mud and debris kill tens of thousands more people than previously realised. Time for action on this neglected global hazard

DEADLY landslides have been in the news on several occasions in recent weeks. A landslide in Yunnan, China, buried a school, killing 18 children. A series of landslides in Uttarakhand, India, claimed the lives of at least 40 people. In Dorset, UK, three people died in two landslides triggered by heavy rain.

Given these deadly impacts, it is surprising that until recently we had almost no data on the global cost of landslides, nor about where they cause the highest losses. To fill this gap, I have spent the past 10 years collecting data about deadly landslides from around the world.

The results are surprising. In a paper in the journal Geology, I analysed the data from 2004 to 2010. In this seven-year period I recorded 2620 rainfall-induced landslides worldwide that killed more than 32,000 people, a much higher toll than previously thought (vol 40, p 927).

The total number of fatalities is even higher than that, as my analysis only considered landslides triggered by rainfall. If other landslides are taken into account, especially those triggered by earthquakes, the death toll rises to a remarkable 80,000.

This is in stark contrast to official figures in the United Nations International Disaster Database, which indicate only about 7400 deaths from landslides and avalanches during the same period.

Why such a large discrepancy? The explanations lie both in what gets included and the nature of landslides themselves.

Let's address the first issue. A key factor is that the UN database includes many other hazard types, such as earthquakes, floods and volcanic eruptions. Compiling such data is a huge task, so the researchers set a minimum impact threshold for inclusion. This is either 10 fatalities or a large economic loss, meaning that many small events are excluded. This is not a problem for earthquake-related data, as unfortunately almost all events that cause significant damage also kill more than 10 people, but it leads to substantial under-reporting for landslides, most of which are small and localised.

A related issue is that the UN database records only a single cause for each death. All of the approximately 68,000 fatalities in the 2008 Sichuan Earthquake in China, for example, are recorded as resulting from the quake. In a sense this is true, but more than 20,000 people were killed by landslides triggered by the event. This is a general problem: landslides are typically triggered by another event, often intense rain or an earthquake, so their impacts are consistently underestimated.

A second key factor is that fatal landslides are concentrated in populous but remote mountain areas prone to heavy rainfall or earthquakes. The global epicentre is along the southern edge of the Himalayas; other hotspots are Indonesia, the Philippines, western China, some Caribbean islands and Colombia.

In such places, obtaining information about landslides that kill small numbers of people has been hitherto impossible. The availability of digital and social media has made it easier.

The ultimate goal of such data gathering, of course, is to reduce landslide deaths. In the past three decades several countries have set up successful programmes to manage landslide risk. A good example is Hong Kong, which suffered a series of major accidents in the 1970s. Their programme has reduced loss of life to a handful of fatalities per decade through a combination of engineering works - such as building retaining walls and installing drainage - public awareness, relocation of people most at risk and an early warning system. While replicating this in full in less developed countries is probably not feasible, some of the measures should be possible even with limited budgets.

An interesting question is whether deaths from landslides are increasing. There are good reasons to think they might be. My research shows that as population density increases so does the number of fatal landslides. In part, this is probably because rising population forces people to live and work on unstable land and, of course, when there are more people in the landscape it becomes more likely that any given landslide will hit someone.

Other factors will also be at play. Environmental degradation, especially deforestation, seems to be making landslides more likely. And the widely observed increases in rainfall intensity, which are probably associated with a warming atmosphere, may also be contributing.

My data set is still too small to determine whether there is a long-term upward trend. The impact of landslides varies considerably from year to year. Although 2010 has the highest number of recorded landslides, the number is considerably lower for 2011 and 2012 looks like it will be lower still. This probably reflects the state of global weather systems such as the El Niño/La Niña cycle, and continental systems such as the Asian monsoon, which has been much weaker than normal in 2012.

The landslide data set has very similar characteristics to a weather one; in the latter case about 30 years of data are required before a trend can be determined. It is likely that I will need to continue to compile data for 20 more years before this question can be addressed.

Rainfall-induced landslides are for the most part a manageable hazard, and a coordinated effort to reduce landslide deaths in poorer nations could be highly effective. The first step needs to be a research programme that seeks to better understand the occurrence of landslides, and the mechanisms responsible for them. Unfortunately at present there is little indication that this is a priority.

Dave Petley is a professor of geography and co-director of the Institute of Hazard, Risk and Resilience at the University of Durham in the UK
 
Whitby landslip: Five houses left dangling over drop
[video: Jude Knight has lived on Aelfleda Terrace in Whitby for 26 years]

Five properties in a North Yorkshire town have been left hanging over a sheer drop following a landslip.
The landslide during the night left the row of terraced houses on Aelfleda Terrace, Whitby, structurally unsafe.
Scarborough council said the site was being prepared for demolition which was due to take place on Thursday.

It added that the cause of the landslide was not known and only one of the properties was occupied. The others were either empty or holiday lets.
The terrace of fishermans' cottages, which are more than 100 years old, overlook the seaside town from the east side of the River Esk and are just a few hundred metres from the historic Whitby Abbey.

Resident Jude Knight, who has been forced to leave her home, said: "I've never been without a home before."
She added: "I've got a lot of my life in there, 26 years really."

The authority said officers had been at the site during the night to monitor the area for further signs of movement.
A further slippage did occur, which resulted in loose material falling down the slope and stopping at the back of three unoccupied properties on Primitive Methodist Chapel Yard.

The council said because of the need to ensure the properties did not collapse down the slope, demolition would be carried out in a step-by-step approach from the back of homes.

A spokeswoman said: "We are continuing to liaise with the owners of the properties directly affected and those in the immediate surrounding area to keep them updated with our progress.
"We would like to apologise for any inconvenience these works will cause, but as I hope people will appreciate, it is important that swift action is taken."

The area has experienced huge amounts of rainfall in the last 48 hours with the nearby RAF station at Fylingdales named as one of the wettest areas in the UK on Tuesday.

Alan Tomlinson, owner of one of the affected properties, said he believed the cause of the landslip was due to drainage issues caused by work carried out by Yorkshire Water.
In a statement, Yorkshire Water said: "We have been in ongoing dialogue with the owners with regards to the sewer that serves these properties.
"We are not going to jump to any conclusions but rest assured we remain committed to continue working with the property owners and the council to understand what's happened."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-yo ... e-20527471
 
No homes at risk here, but still a big problem:

Abseilers inspect Devon railway line landslip

Engineers had to abseil about 80ft (25m) down a cliff to examine a Devon rail line which was closed after a landslip.
Network Rail staff had to leave the scene in Teignmouth after further mudslides made it too dangerous to inspect on foot.
The area was closed on Wednesday after mud slid on to two lines linking Exeter and Plymouth.
Network Rail said abseiling was the only way to carry out a survey.

Contractor Amco brought in the specialist abseilers to asses the landslip.
The infrastructure owner said it was hoped work to repair damage caused by the landslip would enable services to resume on Saturday.
Network Rail said once engineers had removed the mud, rubble and debris and made the line safe, trains would resume at a reduced speed.

Meanwhile, a passengers' group has called on the government to establish a transport resilience task force for south-west England.
TravelWatch SouthWest said the call was a reaction to the flooding which resulted in Cornwall, Devon and Somerset being cut off from London and the wider rail network for several days.
The watchdog said more robust plans were needed to improve infrastructure and service management.

It said such a task force should include Network Rail, train operators, local authorities, local enterprise partnerships and key stakeholders representing business and users.

The main line from Exeter to the rest of the country has reopened.
However, it could be another two weeks before services were completely back to normal, Network Rail said.
Flooding has also affected the line between Exeter and Barnstaple, with buses replacing trains.
There is also a limited train service between Exeter and Yeovil, with buses supplementing the train service.
Full details of affected services are on the National Rail website.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-20538711
 
Diversions after South West coast path falls

Heavy rain has led to five diversions on the coastal path around Devon and Cornwall.
A South West Coast Path spokesman said there had been an "exceptional" amount of landslips in the past two weeks.
It is warning walkers on the 600-mile route from Minehead to Poole to beware of landslips and report any more.

Diversions are in place at Crock Point on Exmoor, Porthallow and from Talland Bay to Looe in Cornwall, Thurlestone to Hope Cove and at Seaton in Devon.

Mark Owen of South West Coast Path said: "We are working with local authorities and landowners to find suitable alternative routes."
The organisation estimates that coast path walkers spend at least £222m every year.

In Sidmouth, Devon, a rain-soaked cliff top plunged 100ft to the beach.
The moment was captured by 70-year-old John Austin who spotted a crack in the red sandstone cliffs.
He said: "It's the first time I've seen anything like that."
Local residents in Cliff Road have now seen large parts of their rear gardens disappear from sight

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-20581088
 
A387 in Looe closed for 'foreseeable future'

A main route into the Cornish town of Looe, blocked by a landslip following recent heavy rain, is to remain closed for the foreseeable future, highways officials say.
The A387 was shut at Sandplace Road last Friday.

Elsewhere in the town, the B3253 at St Martin's Hill was reduced to one lane after another landslip.
Cornwall Council said it would remain single-lane until engineers stabilised a supporting hillside.

The coastal town and port has a population of about 5,000.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-20588733
 
According to Mum there's a couple of dead dolphins washed up on Par beach and the council workers are too busy to remove them, so of course no cause of death established.
 
Whitby landslip exposes human bones at 'Dracula graveyard'

Human bones have been exposed at a church graveyard in Whitby after a landslide took away part of the cliff.
The large landslip, at the cliff on which St Mary's Church stands, has exposed ancient graves when rock started to crumble.
The church, founded around AD1110, includes the graveyard that provided the inspiration for a scene in Bram Stoker's horror novel Dracula.

The human bones have been collected and will be reinterred, officials said.
The landslide has been blamed on a broken drainage pipe which has become damaged and fallen away.
This meant that after heavy rainfall the soil became saturated, leading to more of the cliff falling away.
A stream of water can now be seen flowing out of the rock face where the bones are believed to have been recovered.

St Mary's rector, Canon David Smith said: "The cemetery has been closed for over a century, so if any graves are exposed it's only bones.
"If anything is exposed we collect and reinter them in the same churchyard away from the edge."

More cracks have since appeared in the cliff top at St Mary's churchyard and warning signs have been installed along the pathway.
Residents and business owners in the area are now concerned further landslides may occur should the cliff be subjected to more heavy rainfall.

Barry Brown, owner of Fortune's Kippers on Henrietta Street, below the cliff, voiced his fears of further movement.
He said: "There is still stuff coming down. It is currently no worse, but not a lot better either.
"They started work this week but it all depends on the weather."

The church, a famous setting in Bram Stoker's Dracula, was built more than 900 years ago, with the cemetery closing in 1865.
Canon Smith said: "St Mary's is the oldest building left in Whitby.
"It is a Grade I listed building and still the parish church so it would be a loss to the community."

The land, including the cliff itself, is the property of the church, and so it is their responsibility to carry out repairs.
Canon Smith added: "The church has been trying to get things done and we have had a civil engineer and people working to sort it out.
"They've been trying to find where the water was coming from and making the cliff edge more secure."

Whitby town councillor, Steve Smith, said the church building was not under threat.
He said: "The church is close to the edge of the landslip, some work has been done by a mini digger to do exploration work where the slippage is.
"I'm assured by the rector of the church, Canon David Smith that the church itself is built on a solid rock foundation."

The landslide comes after five houses in Aelfleda Terrace, Whitby, were demolished in December after heavy rain and flooding washed the steep bank beneath them away.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-yo ... e-20970716
 
Well they missed that during The Archers jolly to Whitby, some would tell me that it's not real, but I don't believe it myself.
 
South West coast path landslips 10 times higher than normal

There have been 10 times more landslips than normal on the South West coast path over the winter, figures show.
The South West Coast Path Association said 30 slips and cliff falls have been recorded since November.
Between 2007 and 2012 there were 11 major cliff falls that resulted in a diversion of the coast path

Earlier this week, thousands of tonnes of earth and sandstone fell from the cliffs at Oddicombe in Devon, turning the sea red.

The coastpath, which is 630 miles long (1,014km), starts at Minehead in Somerset and follows the entire South West peninsula covering Devon and Cornwall's north and south coasts all the way to Poole Harbour in Dorset.

The association, which supports and promotes the path, said prolonged rainfall has made the cliffs along it far more unstable than normal.
Many sections of the path have had to be diverted as a result of the falls, with many warning signs erected to walkers to take extra care.

Association spokesman Steve Church said the "unprecedented" number of falls was alarming.
"Thirty-odd cliff falls around the whole of the cliff path - not just Devon - is an unprecedented number and they still seem to be coming at the moment unfortunately, so it's all a bit alarming," he told BBC News.
"The difficulty is knowing exactly when things have stabilised enough to be actually attempt a long-term reinstatement. I hope we're getting to that stage."

In February Natural England, which looks after national trails, said the funding to repair damage to the coast path would not be available, but the association said because it has been fundraising to mark the path's 40th anniversary, it will have money for some repairs.

South West Coast Path National Trail Officer Mark Owen said research it commissioned last year estimated the direct spend attributable to walkers on the coast path in 2011 was more than £350m.

He said the annual maintenance budget had been reduced - in common with other government budgets - by 30% since 2009, but at £600,000 there was now "minimal slack" to cover the cost of repairing the amount of damage caused in the past few months.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-22029730
 
Human bones have been exposed at a church graveyard in Whitby after a landslide took away part of the cliff.

If i'm not mistaken, that's been a fairly regular occurance for rather a long time.

Not sure if this is true, but I'm told that the church would originally have been about a quarter mile inland when it was built. That doesn;t seem too improbably, considering the amount of cliff that's noticably dropped off within my own lifetime.
 
Landslips have been much more frequent the last couple of years, but this is a biggie:

Dorset coast path collapse: 'Massive' cliff fall near Durdle Door

A section of the South West Coast Path in Dorset has been destroyed by a massive landslip.
Portland Coastguard said the cliff fall happened overnight at St Oswald's Bay, east of Durdle Door.
A coastguard spokesman said: "It is huge - a massive fall has taken out part of the cliff. It is rather extraordinary."

The path has been sealed off by council workers. People have been advised to keep clear of the affected area.
A spokesman for the Lulworth Estate which owns the land called it a "substantial" landslip.
Nick Kelly said the estate would co-operate with the county council in re-routing the coast path away from the area of the cliff fall.

He said cliffs along the Dorset coast were in a "fragile" state due to wet weather over the past 12 months, followed by recent dry conditions.
"Visitors should exercise awareness of their surroundings and pay attention to warning signs when walking near the cliffs," he added.

However the Maritime and Coastguard Agency Twitter account later posted a photograph of people still walking along the path, with the caption: "What do you think they are doing on the edge of a collapsed cliff? There's a reason we give advice."

Jurassic Coast manager Sam Rose said 20m (65ft) of the coast path had fallen away,
"The rock has fanned out on the beach so it looks rather spectacular. It is an unusually large fall for this area."

Earlier this month several landslips happened at nearby White Nothe and a section of cliff came down on Swanage beach just before Christmas.

Dr Simon Boxall of the University of Southampton described the latest landslip as "awesome" and said it was likely the fall happened "in one sudden go".
"It is a relief this didn't happen during a busy weekend. There would have been very little warning anything was going to happen.
"It's very difficult to predict where and when these landslips are going to happen," he said.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-22355538
 
Moves to keep sight-seers away from Torquay cliff house

Safety measures are being planned to prevent people getting into a house falling into the sea, police say.
Part of Ridgemont House on Redcliffe Road in Torquay collapsed in February. It had become an attraction while awaiting demolition, residents added.
Devon and Cornwall Police said they were working with Torbay Council to secure the property.

People should also not climb up earth which fell on to Oddicombe beach below because it was unsafe, officers added.

Ridgemont House, in one of the most expensive areas of Torquay, has been uninhabitable for some time.
It used to have a large cliff-facing garden which started to erode away in 2010.

Thousands of tonnes of earth and stone later fell on to Oddicombe beach in April and a section of the beach was closed as a result.
Local resident Lindsay Rogers said there had been a noticeable amount of people coming to see the landslip and house.
He said: "People are up and down the road. They're up, turn round and come down again.
"We're quite fed up with it. We just want to get the house demolished and return to the nice quiet cul-de-sac that we were."

Safety measures to secure the property include erecting a fence to prevent access to the end of the cul-de-sac.
PCSO James Milton, from Devon and Cornwall Police, said people should not try to access Ridgemont House or the adjoining properties.
He said: "We're working with the council to have the site secured as best as possible.
"And, with the beach at the bottom, we've had people rock climbing up the landslide.
"They shouldn't do that as that [earth and rock ] is probably still going to move."

Officers have also been dealing with reports that people have been trying to remove copper piping from the site, police said. :roll:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-22823019
 
And just next door...

£33,500 for uninhabitable cliff house in Torquay

A cliff-top house in Torquay, which has been deemed officially uninhabitable, has sold at an auction for £33,500.
Torr Cottage had a starting price of £25,000 - even though it would normally sell for around £400,000.

The property which was described as being in immaculate condition, sits on land which is prone to landslips.
Nearby Ridgemont House featured in national newspapers and on television because part of it has collapsed because of a landslip.

Torr Cottage is yards from the edge of Oddicombe Cliffs in Torquay.
Torquay Council's prohibition order means it will not allow occupation until a structural work is carried out to make it safe.

Chris Hodgkinson of estate agents House Buyer Bureau, said: "We are very pleased with how the auction went.
"We have yet to find out who has bought Tor Cottage, but the property does have potential for the right investor.
"There is clearly a degree of risk involved, but Tor Cottage and the land still may have potential as an investment opportunity."

The home's previous owner, who declined to comment, had been renting it out.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-23273660
 
Fairlight village: Losing the battle against the sea
By Tanya Gupta, BBC News

Villagers in East Sussex who fought to protect their homes on the cliff edge are calling for more defences after losing more land to the sea.
Fairlight has seen two coast protection schemes in the past decades to slow down cliff erosion. They include two rocky barriers in the sea at the foot of the cliffs.
But now, in the gap between the two berms, the shingle has disappeared and each high tide removes more sand - creating space for more land to fall.

One resident, Jim Saphin, lost 19ft (6m) of garden in the past winter and the Fairlight Preservation Trust now wants Rother District Council to consider a third defence to plug the gap and protect the village.
But Rother councillor Robin Patten, who also sits on Fairlight parish council, said the work could cost anything between £3m and £10m.
"Money is limited. This funding can only come from central government. Rother has not got the money required and neither have the county," he said.

Adding that the 3,000-strong Fairlight population had to compete with areas like Scarborough and Norfolk, he said: "We did extremely well to get the last defence."

Six houses were lost on Sea Road in the late 1980s and early 1990s after the road was breached, and before that a row of cottages also went.

Villagers have said the next road to be breached will be Rockmead Road, which is already lined with demolition sites where houses once stood.
The last Fairlight defence scheme which was to protect Rockmead Road and cost £4.3m included construction of one of the berms, cliff re-profiling (reshaping) and surface drainage, and a system of deep boreholes connected to a pump house to drain water from within the ground.

But Paul Capps, secretary of the preservation trust, said: "The pump house is 22ft (7m) from the edge. It was 32ft (10m), but in the past year we have lost 6.5ft (2m). If it continues at that rate the pump house will not be working within three or four years and £4.3m will be a total waste of money." :shock:

Mr Patten said: "The major problem with Fairlight now is not so much cliff fall but 'toe erosion', which is when the sand gets washed away and leaves room for the next bit to fall.
"I think to protect the toe of the cliff might help. It would remain a drama as opposed to a potential catastrophe."

He said: "It [the pump house] was in a good place at the time. But that's what it is living on the cliff edge. You think this is lovely until such time as you fall in. Cliff fall is inexorable. Cliff fall will happen."

But on top of the cliffs at Fairlight, Dr John Sinclair's house now stands 35 yards (32m) from the edge.
When he bought the house 20 years ago, it stood 160 yards (146m) from the cliff.
He said he sought assurances about erosion from Rother council before he bought the property and was told it would be there for another 400 years.
Dr Sinclair and his wife, Kathy, received a letter in 2003 warning them their house was likely to topple by 2005.

They moved their antiques and jewellery to their daughter's home in Hastings, where their valuables have remained.
For a time, the Sinclairs had no insurance. Now their home is covered for rebuilding costs but not land value.
Dr Sinclair, who has spent his retirement campaigning for Fairlight defences, said: "I am realistic. I am over 80."
But he said if he had known what lay ahead, he would never have bought the house. "It's been a long battle," he said.

Mr Patten, whose cottage sits below the sea wall at Pett Level, about a mile from Fairlight, said: "Fairlight is a fantastic community."
He said: "I do have every sympathy because of where I live. I am aware of what problems the sea can do to you. But you live with it."
A hundred years ago, before any defences were built, water would flow through his old coastguard's cottage at Pett Level at high tide.

A sea wall was later built with broom fences to hold the shingle beach in place, and that was recently replaced by Environment Agency defences costing £10m.

Mr Patten said there was no doubt sea levels were rising, but he had never worried about the sea overtopping defences in the 40 years he had lived there.
He said: "You do have a much more fatalistic, realistic point of view living by the sea.
"When you go swimming you never fight it, you go with it. It's the same thing living here. Don't argue with the sea. You will never win."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-23511513
 
A real WTF! moment:

Video:

Taiwan: Lucky escape as boulder narrowly misses car

A driver had a lucky escape after a boulder narrowly missed a car in a sudden landslide caused by heavy rain in Taiwan.
The incident was captured by a dashboard camera on another vehicle travelling along the coastal road in the north of the country.
No-one in the car was injured.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-23918707
 
This 1929 landslip only came to my attention today - it was mentioned in a crime novel!

Sunken City (Los Angeles, California)

In 1929, a sizeable section of land in the southern tip of San Pedro began to unexplainably slip into the sea. The 600 block of Paseo Del Mar began moving seaward in 1929 and continued to slip until the mid 1930s. Movement was measured as high as 11 inches a day. Due to quick action, all but two of the houses on the seaward side of the street were moved before toppling into the sea. The eastern section of Point Fermin Park was lost and the entire area is very unstable, yet not moving at the present time.
Geologists have termed this phenomenon as a "slump" and this area has been featured in many geological studies and books.

This geological mystery also occurs about 4 or 5 miles up the coast from this spot at Portuguese Bend in Rancho Palos Verdes. The Portuguese Bend Slide Area is still moving and slipping into the sea.
Palos Verdes Drive South, the main road through the area, has to be refurbished continuously and frequently as it is constantly being displaced by the movement. This area is closed by chain link fencing, but may still be viewed at the south end of Pacific Avenue or the east end of Pt. Fermin Park at Paso Del Mar and Gaffey Street.

http://wikimapia.org/900844/Sunken-City
 
South West Coast Path repairs 'secure future'

Repairs and diversions to the South West Coast Path - after more than 30 landslips and falls - have secured its future, the trail's association has said.
Last winter, the route was affected by an "unprecedented" number of falls.
In August, local authorities said they had allocated £1.45m for the repairs.

The South West Coast Path Association said adverse weather could cause more slips but it hoped "vulnerable" sections had already fallen.
Steve Church, from the association, said because of the severity of some falls permanent diversions had been put in place, such as near Looe in Cornwall and near Beer in Devon.
Other areas have a "slight inland diversion", such as around a property or private land.

Mr Church said in October there had been an "impressive cliff fall" near Portreath in Cornwall where a permanent inland path diversion had also been created.
He said: "We're not back to where we were last year, but we do have a path for the future.

"If we get another winter like last year, it's possible it could happen again.
"Some of the falls really came out of the blue, for example in parts of Devon and Cornwall where we hadn't had falls before which were quite unexpected.
"We're hoping the most vulnerable places fell last year," he added.

The South West Coast Path Association said research it commissioned estimated the direct spend attributable to visitors to the coast path in 2011 was more than £380m.
The 630-mile (1,000km) path runs from Minehead in Somerset to Poole Harbour in Dorset.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-24978380

I fear my days of exploring the coastal paths are over - my knees are now too knackered for rough or steep pathways. Even the path from Swanpool to Maenporth, which I once considered quite easy, would be beyond me now. At least I have my pictures:

http://cornwalltidesreach.weebly.com/fh-bay-2.html (1st third of page.)
 
Council 'warned' of Calstock road cracks

Cracks in a road that collapsed on Christmas Day after heavy rainfall were reported to the council months earlier.
At least 20 properties in Calstock have been left without road access after the landslip on Lower Kelly on 25 December.

Resident Nigel Rushbrook said the incident could have been avoided if the council had been more "proactive".
Cornwall Council confirmed it was contacted in June, but said at this stage it appeared the road had succumbed to extremely heavy rainfall.
Five properties immediately behind the landslip were evacuated and one of the homes has developed "fine cracks".
The damage has closed a 20m section of the road to local businesses and about 30 homes.

Mr Rushbrook said cracks in the road were reported via the council website and so its eventual collapse "wasn't really a surprise".
"We'd already reported it, we had seen that developing, we had not seen anything done about it," he said.
"And of course it could have been fixed had they been a bit proactive about it, and actually shored it up before it collapsed."

Mr Rushbrook added: "When I heard it had collapsed, it was no surprise - we knew, we knew it was going to go."

In an email to BBC News, resident Denise Taylor said a "gap in the wall" was reported to the council "some weeks ago" along with concerns that it was getting bigger.
She said "nothing was done about it".

In a statement, the council said: "As with all council highway structures, the retaining wall at Lower Kelly Road is subject to maintenance inspections.
"We can confirm that we were contacted by a local resident about the road in June this year.
"We will, of course, be looking into the causes of the landslip. However at this stage it would appear the road succumbed to the extreme heavy rainfall and saturated ground."

Councillor Bert Biscoe, highways spokesman, added: "We would inspect roads on a regular basis but the nature of this has come as a shock.
"As far as this is concerned, the slippage, this is something that is new to us and we are dealing with this problem now, that is our priority."

A structural engineer has declared the area safe but residents say they fear there has been further movement since the collapse.
Council staff and structural engineers were on site on Monday to carry out a full inspection.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-25548198

The road to Maenporth, near Falmouth is to be closed for shoring up work, even though the same stretch of road was done at the same time last winter! And here there are no homes at risk - but without this road it would be a long detour to Maenporth beach and nearby residences.
 
An Italian landslip unleashes huge boulders... :shock:

Boulder smashes through Italian farm

Dramatic pictures have been released showing the destruction wrought by a huge boulder that smashed through a farm in Northern Italy after being dislodged by a landslide.
The massive rock narrowly missed a farm house, destroyed a barn, and stopped in a vineyard at the property in Ronchi di Termeno.

A second giant boulder detached during the landslide stopped behind the house.
The family living there was unharmed in the incident, on 21 January.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-25975251

Amazing pics!
 
What is amazing is that one boulder stopped just short of the house and car, and a really huge boulder from years ago is still in place, not far from the boulder that went through the barn.
Scary! :shock:
 
Three killed by a landslide in US state of Washington

At least three people have been killed and several badly injured in a huge landslide in a rural area of the north-western American state of Washington, officials say.
The landslide destroyed six houses and covered a road near the town of Oso, about 90km (55 miles) north of Seattle.
It was at least 41m (135ft) wide and 54m deep, local authorities said.
They say that two people were killed at the scene and one died in hospital. The injured included a six-month-old boy.

An eyewitness told the Daily Herald that he was driving on the road and had to quickly brake to avoid the mudslide.
"I just saw the darkness coming across the road. Everything was gone in three seconds,'' Paulo Falcao told the newspaper.

Search-and-rescue help came from across the state, including the Washington State Patrol and the Army Corps of Engineers.
The landslide cut off the city of Darrington and clogged the North Fork of the Stillaguamish River, local media reported.

Authorities say the landslide was caused by recent heavy rain.
More rain is expected in parts of Washington on Sunday, and some people have been advised to move to higher ground

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-26703994
 
rynner2 said:
Three killed by a landslide in US state of Washington

At least three people have been killed and several badly injured in a huge landslide in a rural area of the north-western American state of Washington, officials say.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-26703994
It's getting worse:

Up to 108 missing after US mudslide

Authorities say they have 108 reports of people missing or unaccounted for after Saturday's huge landslide in the north-western US state of Washington.
Eight bodies have been recovered so far after the 54m (177ft) deep wall of mud swept near the town of Oso, about 90km (55 miles) north of Seattle.
Search crews have worked day and night, using helicopters in the dangerous conditions that destroyed 30 homes.
Several people, including an infant, were critically injured.

Snohomish County emergency management director John Pennington said the figure did not necessarily represent the total number of injuries or fatalities.

The authorities say the landslide was caused by recent heavy rain
He said the list had been consolidated from a number of sources.
"It's a soft 108," Mr Pennington told a news conference, reports the Associated Press news agency.
The number is expected to fall as it is suspected that some of the missing-person reports have overlapped.
Mr Pennington added: "We have not found anyone alive on this pile since Saturday."

Snohomish County fire chief Travis Hots told reporters: "The situation is very grim."
More than half of Oso is missing - a recent census put its population at 180.

Authorities have continued their search-and-rescue operations amid a tangled debris field that Washington Governor Jay Inslee labelled "a square mile of total devastation".
Oso Community Church displays a sign reading "pray with us for our community"

An 81-year-old man and a six-month-old boy were said to be in critical condition at a Seattle hospital on Sunday.

...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-26723240
 
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