20 February 2017

New landslide videos: San Bernadino National Forest, La Paz and the Big Sur

Posted by Dave Petley

San Bernadino National Forest landslide video

One of a number of new landslide videos that have been published in the last few days comes from San Bernadino National Forest in Southern California, triggered by the latest in a procession of intense rainfall events in recent weeks.  This is a very impressive video of a large landslide in the Forest Falls area.  In many ways the most interesting aspect is the high energy mobilisation of the flow in the valley below the landslide, which was just caught by the person making the film:-

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Another, I think earlier, movement event of this landslide in San Bernardino National Forest was captured from a helicopter by Fox11.  They report that this area is known as Slide Canyon:-

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A still from this video captures rather well the extent of the landslide, which presumably mobilised in the later event:-

San Bernadino National Forest

The tension crack at the head scarp (to the left of the white circle) of the landslide in San Bernadino National Forest, via Fox 11 and Youtube

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A major landslide in La Paz, Bolivia

Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal has published amazing footage of a major landslide that struck the outskirts of La Paz in Bolivia last week:

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The still in the video above shows the aftermath of the landslide, which appears to have occurred in a succession of failures rather than one major collapse.

A landslide under the Pfeiffer Canyon Bridge in the Big Sur, California

Meanwhile, back in the USA this news report shows the effects of a landslide beneath the Pfeiffer Canyon Bridge in the Big Sur, California.

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The damage to the bridge is spectacular:

San Bernadino National Forest

Damage to the Pfeiffer Canyon Bridge in the Big Sur caused by a landslide beneath the bridge pier, via KSBW and youtube

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It is hard to imagine that a structure with such serious damage can be saved, but Caltrans is undertaking inspections to determine the way forward.  More rain is forecast.