Preliminary response activities and recommendations of the USGS Landslide Hazard Research Team to the Puerto Rico landslide disaster of October 7, 1985

Campbell, Russell H.; Herd, Darrell G.; Alonso, Ramiro

doi:10.3133/ofr85719

Cited by 3 publications

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“…Landslides occur frequently in the mountainous regions of Puerto Rico (e.g., Monroe, 1964Monroe, , 1979DeGraff et al, 1989;Larsen and Simon, 1993;Larsen and Torres-Sánchez, 1998;Pando et al, 2005;Lepore et al, 2012). Most noteworthy was the 7 October 1985 Mameyes disaster, which killed at least 129 people and is recognized as the deadliest landslide in North American history (Campbell et al, 1985;Jibson, 1992). Hurricanes and tropical cyclone systems (henceforth referred to collectively as TCs) routinely affect Puerto Rico (Hernández Ayala and Matyas, 2016) and are capable of producing landslidetriggering rainfall (e.g., Campbell et al, 1985;Larsen and Torres-Sánchez, 1992).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Most noteworthy was the 7 October 1985 Mameyes disaster, which killed at least 129 people and is recognized as the deadliest landslide in North American history (Campbell et al, 1985;Jibson, 1992). Hurricanes and tropical cyclone systems (henceforth referred to collectively as TCs) routinely affect Puerto Rico (Hernández Ayala and Matyas, 2016) and are capable of producing landslidetriggering rainfall (e.g., Campbell et al, 1985;Larsen and Torres-Sánchez, 1992). Landslides have been associated with at least 17 major disaster declarations in Puerto Rico since 1960(Federal Emergency Management Agency, 2018, and, on average, 1.7 major landslide-triggering storms (TCs and non-TC systems) affect Puerto Rico annually (Pando et al, 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Landslides Triggered by Hurricane Maria: Assessment of an Extreme Event in Puerto Rico

2019

GSAT

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Hurricane Maria hit the island of Puerto Rico on 20 September 2017 and triggered more than 40,000 landslides in at least three-fourths of Puerto Rico's 78 municipalities. The number of landslides that occurred during this event was two orders of magnitude greater than those reported from previous hurricanes. Landslide source areas were commonly limited to surficial soils but also extended into underlying saprolite and bedrock. Slope failures occurred before, during, and after flooding, and many transitioned into long runout debris flows. Steep slopes in hilly and mountainous regions were particularly impacted by landslides due to antecedent soil moisture levels that were 11%-13% higher than average and rainfall totals of at least 250 mm within a 48 h period. High landslide densities were especially widespread across some geologic formations (e.g., granodiorite of the Utuado batholith); however, bedrock geology alone did not determine the location and distribution of landslides caused by Hurricane Maria. While rainfall data collected during Hurricane Maria were inconsistent, satellite-based soil moisture data were correlated with the distribution of landslides. In the future, the use of soil moisture data could enable assessments of regional landslide susceptibility prior to hurricanes or extreme precipitation events.

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