Threat of Rattlesnake Ridge landslide draws big-time emergency response

Efforts to deal with the estimated 8 million tons of rock and soil slowly moving down Rattlesnake Ridge has brought together one of the largest Yakima-area emergency responses in recent memory.

Some 20 local, state and federal agencies, along with the Yakama Nation, are working on a myriad of actions ranging from monitoring sophisticated GPS technology tracking soil movement to helping with evacuations.

Among those leaving a small community of trailers and buildings at the base of the ridge where rocks could strike was 42-year-old Antonio Martinez and his family. They were headed to a Red Cross shelter set up for evacuees on 72nd Avenue at the Summitview Church of Christ.

Martinez, who has lived there for the past 15 years, said the relocation will eventually make it difficult for his children to get to school in Wapato.

“It’s OK now because I’m not working,” he said, “But soon I will be working and I’ll need someone to drive them all the way there.”

Martinez also said he’s worried about leaving his house unattended for an indefinite amount of time because he’s seen “gangsters” in the area recently.

Martinez’s adult son, Jesus, who’s lived in a unit next to his father for the past few months, said he’s taking everything with him to the shelter except an air mattress he wants to leave in his home just in case.

“I don’t know what to believe. The city tells us we need to leave but the landlord tells us we don’t have to,” he said. “But I’m leaving because I don’t want to wake up in the middle of the night and have rocks coming down everywhere.”

Horace Ward of the Yakima County Office of Emergency Management said his office and the owners of a quarry below the cracks are working to find more permanent housing for the evacuees, such as hotels or houses. Residents interviewed Thursday said they were unaware of such plans.

Of the roughly 50 residents warned by authorities to evacuate last week, about 30 remain, officials said.

On the hill above the small collection of homes, officials have placed a variety of devices to track movement of the hillside, where giant cracks began opening last October. The devices, which include GPS-based units, lasers and seismic recorders, send information in real time.

Crews also continued placing shipping containers between the base of the ridge and Interstate 82. Authorities believe a large-scale landslide will occur within the month, but are optimistic that the bulk of the slide will be trapped in a quarry before reaching the highway.

Add to those paying attention to the slide is the Union Gap Irrigation District, which has an underground pipe buried in the hillside roughly 50 feet above Thorp Road.

The district can’t do anything until a landslide occurs, but the company is making plans should the pipe be affected, said Patrick Andreas, district manager.

During irrigation season, the district serves 860 customers on about 3,300 acres of farmland spanning from the gap to Cheyne Road, north of Zillah.

A small number of rocks were reported falling Friday onto Thorp Road from Rattlesnake Ridge, where more than two dozen local, state and federal agencies are monitoring cracks in the ridge.

The rocks began falling in a ditch along the road, but did not damage the roadbed or a collection of buildings and trailer homes.

The rockfall isn’t cause for concern, but crews did report seeing some rocks the size of basketballs, said Meagan Lott, a spokeswoman with the state Department of Transportation.

On Thursday, the department finished setting up a bulwark of 44 shipping containers meant to protect Interstate 82 from falling rocks. Lott said the boxes hold a total of at least 396 tons of concrete, and span more than 600 feet.

Officials have been warning that up to 4 million cubic yards is expected to slide. Officials with the state Department of Natural Resources say the bulk of the slide will be stopped by the Anderson Quarry, where a there’s large flat area. But some rockfall could reach nearby Interstate 82, west of Thorp Road, they said.

This story was originally published January 5, 2018 at 12:10 PM with the headline "Threat of Rattlesnake Ridge landslide draws big-time emergency response."