Blasting the Rattlesnake Ridge slide area would be dangerous and could make the area more unstable, the Washington State Department of Transportation said in a blog post Wednesday.
The department said it was one of the most common questions it received about the slow-moving landslide, which is located near Union Gap in Yakima County.
The crack on Rattlesnake Ridge emerged in October and has steadily grown. However, a landslide event isn’t expected until sometime between late January and early March.
“From the outside, it makes some sense. Drop some charges, trigger the slide and then clean it up. But, it’s not quite that simple,” WSDOT wrote.
If authorities were to blast the area, it could create more fissures and release additional uncontrolled debris, according to WSDOT.
It would also be unsafe, as crews would need to drill 20-40 feet into the hillside to put live charges into the holes. With the hillside moving at a rate of 1.6 feet per week, it would be challenging to drill accurately without causing more instability. If the charges didn’t go off, crews would have to sort through millions of cubic yards of debris looking for live charges.
“It’s just too dangerous of a situation to put workers in,” WSDOT wrote.
