The September 18, 2018 Sunny Day Landslide in Warrensville, Ashe County, North Carolina: Disaster Narrowly Averted Following a Series of Unfortunate Events

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Speaker: Rick Wooten

A debris slide and subsequent fire on September 18, 2018 destroyed the Life Store Bank building and damaged adjacent property in Warrensville, North Carolina. Employees in the bank at the time narrowly escaped with minor injuries. Emergency responders determined that the slide pushed a propane tank and an electrical generator against the building causing the subsequent fire. Slide debris damaged the bank and buried part of an unoccupied drive-through lane. NCGS geologists investigated the slide at the request of the Ashe County Emergency Management Department to assess slope stability for public safety concerns. The probable triggering mechanism for the slide was rainfall from remnants of Hurricane Florence which passed over the area on September 15th-18th, and had followed above normal precipitation during the month of August. Our investigation of the ~1,400m2 (~15,000ft2) debris slide revealed geologic conditions and hillside modifications that spanned previous years had predisposed the slope to failure, and that unstable slopes remained at the site. A septic leach field involved in the 2018 slide was severely damaged, but it is unclear if the septic system was a causal factor in the slide. Marginally stable colluvial deposits from past slope movements, a previous slide in 2000, and a propane tank placed in a vulnerable location were early warning signs of the potential problems that can be associated with mountainside development.

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