Skip to main content

Drone video shows a deepening crack in the Yakima’s Rattlesnake Ridge in Washington

A new drone video shows a slow-moving landslide on Yakima’s Rattlesnake Ridge. According to the Washington Department of Natural Resources to slide spans roughly 20 acres of land moving at a speed of 1 and 1/2 feet per week. The landslide slowly travels South near Union Gap which is about 3 miles south of Yakima. Geologists use a drone to closely monitor the event by stitching together drone images to create a 3D model of the slide’s progress.

What do we think will happen and when?

Mike Tonkel with the Washington Geological Survey says:

“Over time, we can take these various images that have been taken at different points in time and we can follow the progress of what’s going on with the land and surface features, so we can watch how fractures and gaps grow.” Tonkel continues, “We can also watch which direction the land is moving and then make calculations based off that – for volume, distance, speed.”

According to KGW8 , the slide is moving toward the Columbia Asphalt quarry, which operations have been halted during the inspection of the landslide.

The Washington Department of Natural Resources had created an event report for Rattlesnake Ridge in which it states:

“What do we think will happen and when? The honest answer is no one knows for certain. There are a number of possibilities. The most likely scenario is that the landslide will continue to slowly move to the south, where the landslide mass will fall into the quarry pit and accumulate.”

Originally Washington State has predicted that a full slide would occur by March this year however since that did not happen the state has since dropped their prediction for a collapse.

STAY IN TOUCH!

If you’d like to stay up to date with all the latest drone news, scoops, rumors and reviews, then follow us on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram or sign up for our email newsletter DroneRise, that goes out every weekday morning at 6 am.

If you’d like to help us grow, you can buy your next drone through one of the following links directly from manufacturers, such as DJIParrot, Yuneec or retailers like Amazon, B&H, BestBuy or eBay. We will make a small commission and it will not cost you anything extra. Thank you!

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

You’re reading DroneDJ — experts who break news about DJI and the wider drone ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow DroneDJ on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Don’t know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel.

Comments

Author

Avatar for Haye Kesteloo Haye Kesteloo

Haye Kesteloo is the Editor in Chief and Main Writer at DroneDJ, where he covers all drone related news and writes product reviews. He also contributes to the other sites in the 9to5Mac group such as; 9to5Mac, 9to5Google, 9to5Toys and Electrek. Haye can be reached at haye@dronedj.com or @hayekesteloo