Talk of The Villages Florida - Disasters you have been in or near?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Taltarzac725 (Post 850892)

ONE KILLED AS A NEVADA MUD SLIDE FLOODS LAKES AND DESTROYS HOMES - NYTimes.com

With the news of the tragic mudslide, I was thinking about my own experiences near one. All it really did for me was scare the hell out of the East Coast relatives who knew I had been working at the Bower's Mansion concession stand when the 5/31/1983 mudslide came down about 1/2 mile north of where I was. I also had about an hour detour to get home.

The first thing I knew something was wrong was when I looked up at the nearby telephone poles and saw how tight they had become.

Here's a good two part article about the 1983 Memorial Day mudslide by Mark McLaughlin from 2013--

http://thetahoeweekly.com/2013/05/19...-flood-part-i/

The 1983 Memorial Day Flood Part 2 of 2 | TahoeDailyTribune.com

Quote:

As he soared 2,000’ to 2,500’ above the lake, Cook recalled, “I heard a roaring sound, kind of like the sound of a jet engine really close. I thought I was going to get hit. Out of the corner of my eye I could see a bunch of rising dust.” The seasoned glider pilot, with more than 1,000 successful launches, watched a big chunk of Slide Mountain collapse into Upper Price Lake. “When it hit the lake,” he said, “it was like a huge explosion. It just blew the lake apart. It looked like a tidal wave at first and then the canyon gathered it up.”

At that moment, Cook was the only person who knew that a landslide containing 1.4 million cubic yards of rock material had just plummeted into Upper Price Lake. The force of the slide displaced 20 acre-feet of water and slush from the lake, and unleashed a torrent of mud, rock and debris into the canyon below. Concerned about people fishing, hiking or living downstream, Cook traced the Ophir Creek channel from his vantage point high in the sky as the ominous snake’s head of destruction surged toward civilization. Anyone caught in the path of this violent flash flood was doomed. “It didn’t have a chance to dissipate before it got down there,” Cook noted. “I saw trees just getting plowed down and it was gaining momentum. At this time, it was between 40 and 50 feet high, weaving down the canyon.”

I did not hear anything until after the mud crossed the road about half a mile north of Bower's Mansion.