The forestry association in Ólafsfjörður built paths in the mountain slope above the town this summer. The path lies across old landslide scars.
Paths constructed by the forestry association of Ólafsfjörður in the slope above the town could create increased risk of landslides in heavy rain.
Avalanche experts who visited the site today say they need more time to assess the stability.
“What is immediately clear is that this needs to be secured better. There are large stones that came loose when the ground was scraped, they are unstable and can roll further down,” says Sveinn Brynjólfsson, avalanche expert at the Icelandic Met Office.
He led the Icelandic Met Office team that went to Ólafsfjörður today at the request of the municipal authorities.
The town halted the forestry association’s path building last month, saying concerns had been raised by worried residents living below the works.
The path runs across the landslide scar from 1988. The slope above Ólafsfjörður has mostly been stable since then.
A municipal councillor at the time expressed surprise that the forestry association would undertake such works without consulting the municipality. The new path, intended to make it easier for forestry workers to get around the mountain area as well as for outdoor recreation, runs partly through the scar left by a large mudslide that hit the town in 1988.
At that time it was considered very fortunate that no one was harmed by the powerful event.
Drainage ditches in the mountain, which were dug after that slide, have carried water well into the right channels down the mountain, away from the settlement, Sveinn says.
He says it is difficult to say after today’s initial inspection whether the new paths will affect those channels – or whether water will accumulate in new places in the steep slopes.
But you do not assess it now as an immediate danger? The slope is not unstable as it is now?
It is not really possible to say that, we basically just need to review it more carefully… at least as long as it is not raining, there is no immediate danger. But as soon as there is heavy rainfall or snowmelt in the spring then this needs to be monitored.
Source: Ruv.is
