NACHES — Experts with the state Transportation Department are evaluating a landslide that obliterated a section of highway and rerouted the Naches River over the weekend.
They want to know if the landslide is still moving, as they suspect it is. If so, department spokeswoman Meagan McFadden says it could be a few days before they can assess how much damage was done and figure out how to best deal with it.
The landslide early Sunday shoved a quarter-mile of State Route 410 into the Naches River, forcing the river to find a new course and causing some flooding. About 60 people were evacuated. No injuries were reported.
McFadden says the ground that moved was extremely dry. It apparently gave way along a curved section of unstable slope — what’s known as a rotational landslide.
The highway runs west from Yakima across the Cascades at Chinook Pass, then along the eastern and northern edges of Mount Rainier National Park. As the slide grew Sunday, the state closed a 47-mile section of SR 410 between Lake Tipsoo near the pass and the junction with U.S. 12, five miles west of Naches.
Although U.S. 12 through White Pass remained open, nearby Cayuse Pass is closed for repairs and Interstate 90 across Snoqualmie Pass was limited by construction work Sunday to two lanes westbound and one lane eastbound.
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