And already, we know that one of those stations, as the scientists were watching the soil moisture conditions change, were able to get out reports to the local officials in that area to make some evacuations. In particular, across the island, they have about a dozen stations or so that just went online in the past year. So recently, the USGS and my collaborators at the University of Puerto Rico Mayagüez have installed a rainfall meteorological station monitoring network for landslides. Alexis Vélez, Puerto Rico National Guard, Flickr, CC BY 2.0)ĬLARK: Yeah, that's an excellent question. Hurricane Maria also caused landslides in Puerto Rico, such as this one which isolated 15 households by blocking roadways. And that's exactly what has happened here in Puerto Rico.īASCOMB: Well, what can Puerto Rico do to become more resilient to these landslides and the aftermath of extreme weather events? So most of the time we think about the rainstorms that follow the earthquakes as being really potentially damaging for at least a few years time frame. But one thing that we know from other places in the world is that when you have an earthquake, and you create landslides during the strong shaking, that the other parts of the hillsides can remain vulnerable for periods of years after the earthquake, meaning that they're more susceptible to landsliding when a rainstorm or another earthquake comes in short succession. It was a pretty modest event, landslide event related to that earthquake, it affected the southern part of the island. That intense shaking can cause hillsides to become destabilized and cause a landslide. So that's another way to make a landslide is during an earthquake when the ground motion is really intense. And it created about 300 landslides during this strong shaking. So not huge, but how did that contribute to the landslides that we're seeing?Ī post shared by MichiganEarth Well, more importantly, there was an earthquake that hit this area back in 2020. I think it was only a magnitude about 3.2. And when the soil becomes saturated, it loses its strength, and it can no longer stay on the hillside and starts to move down slope, causing a landslide.īASCOMB: And this part of the Caribbean also experienced an earthquake, right around the same time that Fiona hit the region. So in this case, the heavy rainfalls saturate the soil. We're seeing some reports on social media of landslides blocking roads, damaging houses, but we're still in the really early stages about knowing just how widespread the problem is.īASCOMB: And what exactly causes a landslide? Just to ask you a really basic question here.ĬLARK: Sure. What happened here most recently with Hurricane Fiona in Puerto Rico and landslides and what are you looking at right now?ĬLARK: Yeah, so we expect that there were a lot all across the island. But landslides, I think are also a huge concern that maybe fly a little under the radar. I'm so glad to be here.īASCOMB: Now, we're all familiar with the extreme rain and flooding that can come along with a hurricane. Professor Clark, welcome to Living on Earth!ĬLARK: Thank you. Marin Clark is a Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Michigan, and she joins me now for more. Along with high winds and major flooding, the island has also been plagued by an onslaught of landslides. BASCOMB: Hurricane Fiona recently struck Puerto Rico, bringing upwards of 30 inches of rain, and cutting off some communities that are still struggling to recover from Hurricane Maria which leveled the island on nearly the same day five years earlier.
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