Mudslides Close Large Stretch Of Highway 20

WENATCHEE - A series of five mudslides shut down a 23-mile stretch of the popular North Cascades Highway Monday night, and Department of Transportation crews are working overtime to get the road re-opened. But that may not happen until the weekend.

The largest slide stretches 300 feet along the roadway and is more than 8 feet deep in places. A small torrent of water still rushes over the hillside there at about milepost 150.

It's what's left of the flash flood that swamped the creekbed and created the river of mud and logs.

Department of Transportation supervisor John Tellesbo describes what happened: "When it blew out, the water was about 6 feet high, coming over the bank, so there was this huge wave of water that must have come down after the crick plugged up."

It happened fast; the Forest Service reports the thunderstorm dropped an inch of rain in just five minutes, and 4 inches in 30 minutes. The rain sent a series of five mudslides crashing onto Highway 20.

The slide trapped 65 people in between the slides. But as Washington State Trooper Lance Ramsay says, it could have been much worse. "This easily could have killed somebody, could have wiped out a whole mess of cars coming through, this is like a locomotive coming down the hillside."

Department of Transportation crews cut a lane open to the east, so the people trapped were able to drive out Monday night. Now the priority is to get Highway 20 reopened. That means re-positioning the runaway creek back into its original banks so it doesn't continue to run onto the road.

And it means clearing tons of dirt and debris off the road. Crews hope to have that done in a couple of days.

"The big question mark," says DOT spokesman Dustin Terpening, "is what's gonna be underneath the dirt when we get it cleaned off." If the road underneath is damaged, that could delay reopening the highway.

Then there's the weather, and a forecast for more thunderstorms. "The bank is saturated and if it rains again tonight it may make things even worse," adds Terpening.

If all goes well, the DOT hopes to have Highway 20 reopened by Friday afternoon. But between the weather and the potential for road damage, they're not making any guarantees.

The road remains closed between Diablo and Rainy Pass.