The Old Fort landslide has reactivated – about 100 m of new movement

Back in October 2018 I wrote about the Old Fort landslide, a large earthflow that has affected access to a subdivision close to the town of Fort St John in British Columbia, western Canada.  In recent days a period of heavy rainfall has reactivated the landslide, which has shown an impressive amount of movement.  Energetic City, a local news outlet, reports that the landslide has moved about 100 metres.  Their report includes this impressive image of the disruption to the access road to the Old Fort subdivision:-

Movement of the Old Fort landslide as of 20 June 2020.  The landslide has now moved about 100 metres. Image by Ben Hopkins, via Energetic City.

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Note the very impressive displacement of the road shown in the image, which also captures the extensive landslide activity on the margins of the main slide.

The Peace River Regional District (PRRD) has an emergency response website, providing updates to the community affected by the landslide.  About 150 people live in the Old Fort Subdivision.  The PRRD has provided the following map that shows the main features of the landslide:-

The landslide map of the Old Fort landslide, released by the Peace River Regional District.

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Many thanks to Susan DeSandoli, who highlighted that this really interesting landslide has reactivated.

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On reflection 1: a valley-blocking landslide in Nepal

The Kathmandu Post reports that a large landslide on Sunday 21 June 2020 partially blocked the Arun River in Makalu Rural Municipality, Sankhuwasabha District. A lake has formed, although this does not appear to be particularly large. Communities downstream have been put on alert.

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On reflection 2: A fatal landslide in Côte d’Ivoire

On 18 June 2020 a large landslide at Anyama, a community located north of Abidjan in Côte d’Ivoire, killed 13 people.  A news report on the Medafrica website suggests that this was the failure of a railway embankment, possibly caused by blocked drainage.