JERRY_SANCHEZ Posted August 17, 2004 Share Posted August 17, 2004 Not sure if there is a post on this yet but if not here is info... Mudslides close Highway 20 west of Winthrop 06:44 AM PDT on Tuesday, August 17, 2004 From KING / KING5.com Staff and Wire Reports KING Heavy rains triggered three mudslides on the North Cascades Highway Monday night, closing Highway 20 west of Winthrop, Wash. NEWHALEM, Wash. - State Highway 20, the North Cascades Highway, has been closed by mudslides at the site of one of Washington state's wildfires. A lightning storm rolled through the Cascades around 6 p.m. Monday and started the slides about 38 miles west of Winthrop. The storm dropped about half-inch of hail and an inch of rain within half an hour, causing three sudden mudslides in the area. No one was injured in the Monday evening slides, but about 40 motorists and 25 firefighters and their vehicles were trapped between the slides, which are 3 miles apart. The members of the U.S. Forest Service were en route to fight the nearby Mebee fire about a mile away. "They're trapped in between the slides,” said Trooper Lance Ramsay, Washington State Patrol. “There are 25 firefighters fighting up there, and the fire is contained, and now they're contained with them." WSDOT maintenance crews from Everett and Twisp converged on the slides from opposite sides of the pass and were on site by about 8 p.m. Reports from the crew leaders indicated the slides were about 300 feet wide and 8 to 10 inches deep. They worked throughout the night and were able to create a small passageway. It enabled the stranded to get out just after midnight, but the highway remained closed indefinitely Tuesday morning. "These mudslides are several feet wide, and 3 to 4 feet deep and still moving,” said Ramsay. “There are others, one potential that could still move into that drainage." Firefighters gave blankets and hot meals originally intended for “hotshot” firefighting crews to the stranded motorists, , fire information officer Cynthia Reichelt said. Motorists were directed to move their vehicles to a safer area where a mountain ridgeline met the highway, she added. Highway 20 remained closed at the gates of Milepost 126 and Milepost 171. Road crews did not estimate when the highway would reopen. An unknown number of people were also stranded by a 60-foot washout on a U.S. Forest Service road leading to Harts Pass, Reichelt said. “Everybody’s safe,” said Dave Johnson of the Washington Incident Management Team on the Mebee fire. Because of the rain, the lightning-caused Mebee fire, which had burned 238 acres about a half mile north of the highway, has burned itself out. But nine new forest fires are burning near Winthrop. The same area was closed last fall when the North Cascades Highway was closed by washouts and several mudslides. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Posted August 17, 2004 Share Posted August 17, 2004 I can't wait for winter! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billy Posted August 17, 2004 Share Posted August 17, 2004 Where are the closures actually? Where is milepost 171 and 126? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Frieh Posted August 17, 2004 Share Posted August 17, 2004 Liberty Bell/Washington Pass is MP 163; Silver Star gate is 170 (where they close it in the winter). I'm not sure about the west side though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Posted August 17, 2004 Share Posted August 17, 2004 126 might be the gate beyond Colonial CG. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Frieh Posted August 17, 2004 Share Posted August 17, 2004 I checked: Newhalem is milepost 120 and Diablo is milepost 129. Hope this helps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenT Posted August 18, 2004 Share Posted August 18, 2004 It's closed at Ross Lake TH. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MCash Posted August 18, 2004 Share Posted August 18, 2004 According to the website below, the road is tentatively rescheduled to reopen on Friday. http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/northcascades/default.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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