A slow-moving landslide in Jackson, Wyoming has split a home on a hill in half. Now, officials say the landslide is moving faster as it inches its way toward the city's main street — forcing residents to evacuate.
"It's basically broken in half now. It has been quite amazing to watch the progress of this slide."
"They said we had a couple hours to get out of the house, so we grabbed some clothes and we took off." (Via ABC)
NBC reports the landslide started about two weeks ago and has moved faster in the past few days.
Early on, the land was only moving about a couple inches a day, but the speed has quickly grown. (Via KPVI)
KIFI notes most of the land moved 2 to 3 feet on Thursday, but one section moved as far as 9 feet.
According to the Jackson Hole News & Guide, officials are worried the landslide could rip open a large water main, which could shoot out more than 2 million gallons of water in just 30 minutes. A former U.S. Geological Survey official said the slide will only move faster.
"If the motion is doubling every day, which is getting close to what it’s doing, it’s an exponential series ... we’re talking 3 feet yesterday. ... If you double that to 6 feet to 12 feet to 24 feet, that’s not a lot of days."
On its website, the town has set up a live stream of the slide site from two different angles. The Walgreens store in the foreground and three other nearby businesses are closed because of the slide. (Via Town Of Jackson)
This aerial footage shows just how bad the damage is in the parking lot of the Walgreens as well as the part of the hill where the home was split into two. Construction crews are setting up barriers in hopes of keeping dirt and rocks from getting to the street. (Via YouTube / Tributary Environmental)
So far, officials say they aren't sure what caused the landslide.
