Landslide hits hilly block of Broadway Avenue

By Matthew N. Wells The Daily World • November 16, 2022 1:30 am
A yellow, diamond-shaped “Slide Area,” sign is posted just south of the hill on Broadway Avenue. It’s not far from the landslide that closed the road Monday night and forced drivers to find alternate routes. The road was blocked until about 11:30 p.m., Monday. On Tuesday morning, the road — aside from trace amounts of visible dirt that stretched across the two-lane road — was safe for traffic. (Matthew N. Wells / The Daily World)
A yellow, diamond-shaped “Slide Area,” sign is posted just south of the hill on Broadway Avenue. It’s not far from the landslide that closed the road Monday night and forced drivers to find alternate routes. The road was blocked until about 11:30 p.m., Monday. On Tuesday morning, the road — aside from trace amounts of visible dirt that stretched across the two-lane road — was safe for traffic. (Matthew N. Wells / The Daily World)

A landslide occurred on a twisty, turny, hilly road on Monday night in Hoquiam.

There were no injuries and there was little damage. The landslide occurred in the 300 block of Broadway Avenue. The area includes a steep west-facing embankment over Hoquiam River, little room for pedestrians to walk safely, and a 25 mph speed limit. Right near where 16th Street turns into Broadway Avenue, there is a yellow, diamond-shaped road sign that warns of possible land slides.

Hoquiam Police Department posted about the landslide on Facebook. According to HPD Lt. Jeff Salstrom — who was off-duty Monday night — information he received from the on-duty sergeant on Monday night pointed out that a citizen reported the landslide at 6:35 p.m.

It sounds as though the slide made little impact.

“It was a small slide of rocks and dirt, but a tree fell into the power lines as well, requiring the (Grays Harbor) PUD to respond,” Salstrom said Tuesday in an email to The Daily World. “I’m not sure of the cause, other than it is that time of year and with all the rain we had last week, it made the slope unstable.”

Heavy rain and wind combined for “Western Washington’s first potent storm of the season,” on Friday, Nov. 4, according to The Daily World. Hoquiam’s Bowerman Airport received roughly five inches of rain in a 48-hour period from the morning of Nov. 3 through the morning of Nov. 5.

Both lanes on the “S” curve road were blocked and the city’s public works employees were on the job to clear the mud and dirt on the road. A Grays Harbor PUD crew was on site, too, to help with the landslide.

“Other than whatever issues the PUD had, I don’t believe there was any damage,” Salstrom said. “The hydraulic line was on the city’s backhoe and the rupture just slowed the public works crew’s ability to clear the slide. They had to wait for the city mechanic (Mitch Kellogg) to respond and fix it, which he did quickly. It had nothing to do with the slide itself.”

According to the HPD post, “a hydraulic line on a piece of equipment blew out.”

The road’s closure caused drivers to find alternate routes on US Route 101 to Youmans Road, or Wishkah Road to the Hoquiam-Wishkah Road. The closure lasted until about 11:30 p.m., Monday, according to Salstrom.

According to Brian Shay, city administrator for the city of Hoquiam, the area — 300 block of Broadway Avenue — has been a host to slides in the past.

“The area of the slide has been a regular problem and is one of the areas that is currently under design for repairs,” Shay said. “Construction of the repairs is planned in 2027.”

Contact Matthew N. Wells at matthew.wells@thedailyworld.com.