In the summer of 2011, I pranced around a fossil yard with a nature center group that had taken us on an excursion to find Trilobite - fossils of those ancient creatures that look sort of like a weird little beetle. We walked down a path made up of soft sandstone and filled with brush. I remember taking my fossils to the science museum to be inspected. In the fall of 2012, I returned with my family to Lilydale Park. My dad suggested that we walk off-trail, and so we went down the cliff to the site right alongside the Mississippi River that long ago was the town of Lilydale. There used to be severe flooding, so the town relocated on top of the bluff overlooking the river. The location is also the historic site of the former Twin City Brick Company. Shale would be removed to create bricks. To this day, you can still see bricks laying around.
In the spring of 2013, just months after my family had scavenged, a fourth-grade science class set out to explore the fossil sites. There was a tragic landslide.
River bluffs like those along the Mississippi are at risk for landslides, especially in the spring when melting “ice inside the bluff thaws and destabilizes the rock.” The risk is even higher after heavy rainfall like that in the spring of 2013.
While the fourth-grade class was on their field trip, the ground slipped from under them, and “the students fell into what became a hole, and the hillside collapsed on top of them.” The ground was so unstable that the emergency personnel couldn’t bring in their machinery. They began to ask neighbors for hand shovels - anything that could help. In the night, it got so dangerous that they had to pause their rescue efforts. Fortunately, most of the students and teachers were rescued. Sadly, two boys passed away that at the time were my own age.
The park was closed for several years after the accident. $330,000 was spent for research on landslides in Lilydale. Following the studies, a massive reconstruction of the park was completed, costing over $1.2 million.
Landslides are almost impossible to predict. In July of 2018, another local landslide occurred, this time in a more populated area of the Twin Cities, right by the Mexican grocery store where my family shops. Luckily, no one was hurt, but the central street was closed for months while erosion control took place.
Most landslides in the Twin Cities take place in June, making both the Lilydale Park and West Side incidents fall in prone times. Landslides happen infrequently and at irregular intervals. Like many geohazards, landslides are almost impossible to predict. While acknowledging the pain for the families who lost their boys, it is reassuring that the number of fatalities associated with these events is minimal and that the community along the Mississippi River near my home has made an active choice to build above and offset from - rather than underneath - these landslide-susceptible areas.
United States interactive data map with recordings of landslide activity.
Works Consulted:
Gilbert, Curtis. “St. Paul to Reopen Park Areas near Site of Deadly Landslide.” MPR News, 25 Feb. 2015, www.mprnews.org/story/2015/02/25/lilydale-park.
Minnesota DNR, University of Minnesota, National Weather Service, Hennepin County. “Historical Landslide Inventory for the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area.” Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Division of Ecological and Water Resources, 2016, pp. 1–34. files.dnr.state.mn.us/waters/watermgmt_section/shoreland/landslide-inventory.pdf.
National Parks Service. “Lilydale Regional Park - Mississippi National River and Recreation Area (U.S. National Park Service).” Plan Your Visit: National Parks Service, www.nps.gov/miss/planyourvisit/lilydale_park.htm. Accessed 13 Feb. 2022.
Nelson, Tim, and Elizabeth Dunbar. “Part of Lilydale Park to Remain Closed After Fatal Mudslide.” MPR News, 23 May 2013, www.mprnews.org/story/2013/05/23/part-of-lilydale-park-to-remain-closed-after-fatal-mudslide.
Prather, Shannon. “Six Years after Landslide, Restoration of St. Paul’s Scenic Brickyard Trail Nears Completion.” Star Tribune, 18 May 2019, www.startribune.com/six-years-after-landslide-restoration-of-st-paul-s-scenic-brickyard-trail-nears-completion/510099152/?refresh=true.
Stanley, Greg. “State Disaster Dollars to Help Ramsey County Clean up St. Paul Landslide.” Star Tribune, 12 July 2018, www.startribune.com/state-disaster-dollars-to-help-clean-up-st-paul-landslide/487938161.
“U.S. Landslide Inventory Web Application.” USGS: Science for a Changing World, USGS, usgs.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=ae120962f459434b8c904b456c82669d. Accessed 13 Feb. 2022.
I remember when the first landslide incident happened. It was tragic. I'm glad you're okay, though! I didn't know that most landslides happen in June--maybe that will help geologists figure out how to predict them one day.
ReplyDeleteIt is events like this that show how quickly and unexpectedly a hazard can strike. Hopefully tragic events such as this can motivate efforts to identify risky areas and take measures (like netting, planting vegetation, keeping people away during risky months, etc.) to prevent/mitigate a disaster like this from striking again.
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