Landslides in consecutive weekends continue to block Washington roads

CHUCKANUT, Wash. — Large boulders rained down on a Western Washington highway overnight, with one even averaging the size of a small car.

This happened just south of Larrabee State Park, leading to the closure of State Route 11 for hours.

The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) says that it’s fortunate no one was hurt. Luckily, the boulders fell around 11:30 p.m. on Friday night, which meant nobody was hit along the highway.

“Last night we got a call that there were some rocks that came down on the road,” said Eric Zackula with WSDOT, adding that half a dozen large rocks pummeled the pavement. The largest of the six rocks was about the size of a small car, according to Zackula.

The highway closed for around 13 hours into Saturday afternoon as crews worked to clear it.

“Due to the size of the rocks we had to call out special heavy machinery to break them up into smaller pieces so that we could get a loader to put them into dump trucks and haul them away,” said Zackula.

Before the highway reopened, geotech crews scoured the side of the cliff side to make sure it was safe.

“They look for stability to make sure no other debris comes down from the walls, and they have their checks to do that,” said Zackula.

WSDOT is looking into what may have contributed to the slide and has not said if weather was a factor. According to the National Weather Service, 1 and 1/3 inches of rain fell in the area on Friday.

This weekend’s rockslide comes just a week after a failing culvert during heavy rain caused a mudslide that closed I-5. Because this stretch of road is cut into the hillside above the bay, WSDOT says rock slides have been known to happen here before. They did note, though, that it doesn’t happen frequently.

As the heavy rain begins to descend on Western Washington for the season, Zackula hopes everyone keeps an eye open for those working to keep the roads clear, “Just give our crews space to work so we can get the road back open.”

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