Landslides:
Orientation
A major landslide encroaching on the town of La Conchita, California.

Whenever I teach environmental geology as an on-campus course, I usually tell several stories about landslides that come from my 15 years as a practicing geologist and two as a coordinator of emergency services for the State of West Virginia.

In these positions I was frequently called to investigate situations of slope movement and subsidence. West Virginia has lots of subsidence problems because it is underlain by thousands of underground mines - most of which have long been abandoned. The mountainous landscape of West Virginia also causes it to be near the top of the list of states with heavy landslide damage.

In most instances of subsidence and landslide damage, the "problem" begins as a mystery. I have seen this story many times and it typically goes something like this:



WHAT'S WRONG WITH MY HOUSE?

One spring morning you go out the back door of your house and notice that it is a little harder than usual to open. You suspect that the wood is swollen because it has been raining for several days. You hope it will stop sticking as soon as the weather changes. The next week, you can hardly open the door even though the sun has been shining for three straight days. You remove the door from its hinges, plane-off a few millimeters, and think that you have fixed the problem for good.

Everything works fine until next spring when the same door is stuck again. The kitchen window is also stuck and another is badly cracked. You call the contractor to complain that your two-year old house needs repaired. The contractor agrees to take care of things, but informs you that this will be his last trip to your house - he can't be responsible for perpetual maintenance work. You fix the door and the contractor replaces the windows. Now everything should be fine.

That fall after a major rainstorm you notice water seeping through a newly-formed crack in your basement wall. The back door is stuck again, three of your interior doors are difficult to close, and two windows have diagonal cracks in the glass. You call the contractor, but he claims that it has been three years since he sold you the house and refuses to make repairs.

The following spring, the problem becomes obvious. After a major snowmelt and rainstorm, you notice fractures in the ground up-slope from your house and a bulge in the front yard below your house. All of your doors and windows have problems, plaster cracks are visible throughout your house, and your plumbing has sprung two leaks in the past three days. Your house is riding down the hill atop a slowly moving landslide.

You call your insurance agent. He informs you that your insurance policy does not cover landslide damage. You get mad and call the main office. The claims representative recites from memory the section, paragraph, and line from your insurance policy that excludes landslide damage. Sorry!

Things get worse when the city building inspector arrives with a warrant to inspect your home. After the inspection, he informs you that your property is being condemned and that you will have 10 days to move out. A tremendous nightmare - you can't live in the house, your insurance will not pay to fix it, and you still owe the bank $72,000 on the mortgage.



MORE COMMON THAN YOU THINK

Perhaps you are thinking "this can't happen to me." Don't be too sure. Every year, hundreds of people in Pennsylvania and surrounding states lose their home or pay expensive repair bills to correct landslide damage. Landslides are especially common in Tioga County. Several small ones can be seen on the Mansfield University campus, several intermediate-sized ones are within a five-minute drive and one of the most expensive landslides in Pennsylvania's history is located along Route 15, just a few miles north of town.



BTW.....

Maybe you are wondering if the typical homeowner's insurance policy covers things like landslides, floods, earthquake damage, mine subsidence, and volcanic hazards. It usually does not! In nearly 10 years of looking at homes damaged by landslides I never heard of a single case of the insurance company paying. If you want to see what is written about them in my own insurance policy just click right here. This is why I sincerely want you to learn about environmental geology. Since insurance does not pay when these hazards strike your best line of protection is knowledge about them when selecting a place to live. The best way to avoid injury or loss from natural hazards is to obtain knowledge in advance.

The image at the top of this page was obtained from the USGS Landslide Image Collection.