Slide Wipes Out Deck, Covers Road

A chunk of soggy hillside slid loose Sunday, taking out the deck of a house north of town and swamping a county road, an Okanogan County sheriff’s deputy said.

“The whole side of the hill let loose,” Deputy Eric Mudgett said.

“What used to be a sloping hillside in front of the house now looks like a cliff.”

The 8:44 a.m. slide was blamed on recent heavy rains.

The two people who were in the one-story house at the time were unhurt. They quickly went outside after finding out what had happened, he said.

A deck connected to the home collapsed and tumbled about 60 feet to the base of the hill. The home was left standing but with one corner hanging over the edge of a steep dropoff created by the mudslide.

Authorities were unsure if the home could be safely moved or if it would have to be demolished, he said.

The house, about a quarter-mile north of city limits, was the only one threatened.

The section of hill was about 30 feet high and 1,000 feet long. The slide also covered a section of Robinson Canyon Road, a two-lane county road.

Communications Officer Dennis Irwin said the road would probably be closed for a week as the county Public Works Department fixes it.

The hillside had been covered mostly by sagebrush and weeds. Recent heavy rains left the soil unstable, Mudgett said.