{"id":3617,"date":"2011-09-09T06:51:03","date_gmt":"2011-09-09T06:51:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.agu.org\/landslideblog\/?p=3617"},"modified":"2011-09-09T07:16:33","modified_gmt":"2011-09-09T07:16:33","slug":"rainfall-impacts-from-irene-and-lee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.agu.org\/landslideblog\/2011\/09\/09\/rainfall-impacts-from-irene-and-lee\/","title":{"rendered":"Updated: Rainfall impacts from Irene and Lee"},"content":{"rendered":"

As my fellow AGU blogger Dan Satterfield has pointed out in a post toda<\/a>y, heavy rainfall from the former tropical storm Lee across eastern USA is falling on ground that has already been saturated by the passage of tropical storm Irene.\u00a0 The latest storm appears to be generating substantial rainfall totals.\u00a0 This NASA image derived from TRMM data shows rainfall totals for the period 31st August to 8th September:<\/p>\n

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The upshot is serious flooding and landslide problems.\u00a0 Two substantial ones are being reported at the moment.\u00a0 First, this news report<\/a> describes what appears to be a rather interesting failure on the banks of Chickamauga Lake in Tennessee:<\/p>\n

Half a million dollars worth of property slides straight into Chickamauga Lake, and now the homeowner is describing how it all happened.\u00a0 Ed Cagle lives on Harrison Bay and woke up early Tuesday morning to hear his dock, pool, and backyard slam into the water below.\u00a0 Cagle tells us he had a 65 foot retaining wall installed about 10 years ago.\u00a0 He says it had all the proper draining tubes and reinforcements, but it simply couldn’t withstand the ten inch downpour.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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http:\/\/www.newschannel9.com\/sections\/article\/gallery\/?pic=1&id=1004599&db=wtvc<\/p><\/div>\n

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The homeowner does appear to be right that this is a failure of a sheet pile wall.\u00a0 It is slightly surprising to see it deformed in this way.\u00a0 I wonder how deeply it was founded into the ground:<\/p>\n

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http:\/\/www.newschannel9.com\/sections\/article\/gallery\/?pic=2&id=1004624&db=wtvc<\/p><\/div>\n

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Meanwhile, across in New Jersey there are reports of a landslide<\/a> at Liberty Township in Warren County, near to Mountain Lake.\u00a0 According to the news reports, this has occurred on Lewis Lane, which Google Maps indicates is at the following location:<\/p>\n

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So far one home has been lost, and 50 families habve been evacuated:<\/p>\n

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http:\/\/media.lehighvalleylive.com\/warren-county_impact\/photo\/mudslide-on-lewis-lane-damages-homes-d9d1ba2bacf4c166.jpg<\/p><\/div>\n

I wonder what this rainfall will be doing to the Keene Valley landslide<\/a> in New York as well (see here for details<\/a> from earlier in the year).<\/p>\n

Update: <\/strong>The Philadelphia Inquirer has a really interesting cumulative rainfall graphic for the year to show just how substantial this recent precipitation sequence has been:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Meanwhile, landslides are wreaking havoc elsewhere:<\/p>\n