The message from Unified Incident Command today was a resounding, loud and clear warning to the public…stay away from the slide as it remains very steep and extremely unstable. Especially the area geologists call the escarpment of the slide, or what appears to be the very top, steep immediate break away area of the top of the mountain. The primary focus remains on life safety, when it comes to interaction with #MCMudslide.
The LiDAR flights and work continued today (posted details about these flights on June 1) and are scheduled for possible final flights tomorrow, June 3. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Sacramento, California office sent three personnel to Grand Junction, today. Those three Corps personnel will do an on-site assessment tomorrow of the slide, with a focus of their mission being on the water build-up (pond) that continues below the escarpment and behind the block (the massive middle area). To the left is the Corps’ news release about their mission in Mesa County, they released directly.
Today, the activity on the #MCMudslide was the final phase of placing monitoring devices in the field and on strategic places on the slide. Once all the devices are complete and in place, the Verizon booster is operational, then analyzing the data will begin.
Additional photos taken of the slide area on Saturday, May 31, 2014, by Sheriff Stan Hilkey are here. Further photos from the Sheriff and others (recently taken) will be posted on the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page.
Sheriff Hilkey flew over the #MCMudslide with Colo. Governor Hickenlooper on Saturday, May 31, 2014. These are the images he captured. If you are using these pictures for any reason, please credit: Mesa County Sheriff’s Office.
MCSO/hb