A landslide two weeks ago in Macon County, North Carolina, has residents and officials trying to figure out exactly what happened, who’s responsible, and whether it can be prevented from happening again. Four homes were damaged and dozens more threatened when mud and debris slid 3,000 feet down Buck Mountain in this slide-prone region.
A park called Ghost Town in the Sky that owns the land at the top of the mountain had performed some stabilization work about three years ago, building terraced retaining walls in front of an older, failing wall near the top of the slope, and had done more work several months ago, according to an article in the Citizen-Times of Asheville. Part of the retaining wall system contributed to the recent slide, according to a state geologist. However, it’s not clear whether a failure above or below the wall might have been the direct cause of the landslide. The park is now in bankruptcy.
Officials are trying to determine responsibility and whether fines to cover the damage might be levied, or whether a federal or state loan might be used to pay for repairs. The state’s Department of Transportation is paying to fix a road damaged in the slide, which will allow crews access to the area where the retaining wall was located.
Legislators have been trying to get a more stringent slope development law passed for the state, but, with builders opposing it, it hasn’t yet gone through.