SEATTLE — A rain-soaked hillside collapsed on the main highway connecting Washington and Oregon, stranding thousands of motorists for hours Thursday while rain continued to fall throughout the region.
The storms that have been sending rivers out of their banks, closing roads and killing at least two people in the Pacific Northwest this week were easing a bit, but forecasters said mudslide danger on the saturated hills would remain high through the weekend.
“It was crazy and I was scared,” said Diane Smith of Lacey, Washington, who was stuck for three hours behind the landslide on Interstate 5 about 26 miles north of Portland, Oregon, and then drove a steep, windy mountain road to get around the slide.
The massive landslide blocked the lanes Wednesday afternoon after a hillside of rocks and dirt collapsed on the roadway after days of pounding rain.
More rain is on the way through the weekend.
Forecasters at the National Weather Service say that also could mean more landslides as drenched hillsides keep soaking up water.
“The threat of landslides doesn’t end when the rain does,” said Kirby Cook, science and operations officer with the weather service office in Seattle.
Smith said her detour onto the Green Mountain Road above Woodland, Washington, was by accident. After being stuck on the highway, she followed directions and left the freeway. But when she got off I-5, it wasn’t clear which of three routes to take.
Smith, who was driving her 6-year-old grandson and his other grandma back from Vancouver, Washington, probably made the wrong choice, according to the Washington Department of Transportation. Officials used social media to discourage drivers from taking the mountain road without guardrails around the slide, but as Smith points out, she was driving, not checking her cellphone for updates.
