(The following appeared on the Seattle Times website on March 16, 2011.)
SEATTLE — Heavy rains have led to a series of mudslides earlier this week, forcing another 48-hour moratorium on railroad transit.
Forty-four mudslides Monday through Wednesday kept BNSF crews busy cleaning up railroad tracks up and down Western Washington and shut down passenger train service for most of the week.
So far this season, BNSF spokesman Gus Melonas said, there have been more than 100 slides affecting rail service, more than the state has seen in one season since 1996-1997. The bulk of this week’s slides were on Monday and Tuesday, but lingering showers Wednesday continued to soak the ground and uproot trees and debris on hillsides.
The full story is on the Seattle Times website.