Mother Nature's Fury

You would think they would do something about that Dwyllis,seems like its just a matter of time befor someone is killed god forbid.

I totally agree, & I'm sure a lot of other people in this part of NZ would agree also. They spend millions of dollars on this gorge, maintaining it & trying to stabilize it. It is the most direct route from our area to the district on the other side of the gorge, but in my opinion it ought to be closed for good, & they ought to spend the money on widening the other route, which only takes around 15 mins longer to get from one area to the other. Someone is going to be killed ... I said to my OH just last night, that imagine if a busload of tourists were on the road when that slip came down on top of them. That would cause a scandal of international proportion, I'm sure.

Amazing pic, Dwyllis ..
added to GoYpedia Flood and Rain Damage.

I thought Vermont was bad, but this is really something. Why is is called a slip? It looks like a giant slide. Does it happen all at once?

This one happened all at once, I think. The whole hillside on either side of this gorge is very unstable & is constantly undergoing very expensive maintainance to clear up slips or large boulders which have come down, or to place preventive heavy-duty steel mesh over the worse areas. It happened in mid-October & the gorge is still closed & will probably remain closed for weeks yet. Landslides like this are always referred to as slips over this part of the world, no matter how big they are.

Thanks for that explanation. I am just astonished there is a road going through. I bet there is a lot of maintenance going on all the time. It looks impossible...Also the ground itself looks heavy and granular, I am in awe. Very scenic from the other side though.

flippin' 'eck! tht's some slip!

they could plant tress on the slope - read somewhere that trees help to bind the soil together, and cutting them, especially on steep slopes in Indonesia etc, has contributed to tmassive slides that have buried villages.

This massive slide has been on-going since August last year & still showing no signs of being resolved. As soon as they clear some of it away, more comes down. It is a total miracle that no-one has been seriously hurt or killed yet, but it definitely could happen. Most of the side of this gorge has been reinforced over & over again, but the whole area is absolutely unstable .... there is a lot of native bush growth growing up it, Fran, but it still keeps coming down. I will certainly not be driving through that gorge again, if it ever re-opens. I'll be taking the longer route & then at least I won't have to worry about the very possible threat of that coming down on my head.

they could do what they do in avalanche country, and put a "snow arch along the danger area? of course, it'd cost medadosh, but it could save lives.