2 landslides cause trouble in southeast Butler Co.
Weekend storms led to landslides in southeastern Butler County, one affecting Route 356 and the other the Butler-Freeport Trail.
Three inches of quick rainfall likely is the culprit for causing the landslides, according to David Shallenberger, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service of Pittsburgh.
“For our area — with the hilly terrain and water basins that we have — three inches of rain will cause some problems,” Shallenberger said.
Freeport firefighters responded around 10 p.m. Saturday to the area of Route 356 near the Second Street bridge, where a large portion of the hillside poured onto about two-and-a-half lanes of the road, according to Assistant Fire Chief Mike Greiser.
“There were continual slides happening while we were there,“ said Greiser on Sunday. “Even right now, there’s a ton of water still coming off the hillside. Every so often, it was bringing more stone mud and that kind of stuff down.“
Greiser said his crew blocked all traffic on Route 356 throughout Saturday night, and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation was alerted to the incident. Greiser said PennDOT crews arrived and began work around midnight, and firefighters left the scene.
Greiser said the road crew alerted them around 3:45 a.m. Sunday that they had cleared the scene, but the crews went back a short time later after another smaller landslide fell. He said PennDOT cleared the scene again around 4:30 a.m.
By 10 a.m., all lanes had resumed traffic, but not until after firefighters used approximately 4,000 gallons of water to clear out remaining mud on the road.
“We’ll keep an eye on it to make sure we don’t have any other issues,” Greiser said.
Nearly a mile away, another landslide dropped debris onto Butler Freeport Community Trail, according to Chris Ziegler, the trail’s president.
Ziegler said the landslide fell about one mile from the Laneville Trailhead in Freeport, along Buffalo Creek. She asks that all trail visitors avoid the affected trailhead and instead use the Monroe Road Trailhead, 154 Monroe Road, near the Buffalo Creek Nature Park.
Ziegler posted signs at both trailheads with this advice and shared it on social media. She said safety is the ultimate concern. In following her advice, visitors only miss out on approximately a one-mile stretch of the trail.
Ziegler said she inspected the damage late Saturday night as it grew dark.
“The slide started about 400 feet above (the trail,)” Ziegler said. “We are concerned about the entire hillside, not just what came down.”
Buffalo Township’s engineer has been asked to evaluate the spot and give an opinion on how to proceed with cleanup. Ziegler urges everyone to stay clear and safe during the cleanup process.
“We don’t know when it’s going to slide again,” she said. “With the weather being perfect this week, we’d like to get this taken care of sooner rather than later.”
Shallenberger said in addition to the rainfall, other factors also may have contributed to the landslides. He said short- or long-term erosion of heavier topsoil can free up looser rocks and soil beneath it.
Shallenberger said it is also early in the growing season. “It also doesn’t help that we’re still getting some vegetation growing in, so that’s less trees (and other plants) sucking up water,” he said.
Shallenberger said the geographical makeup of the areas also makes a difference. He said an area such as Ohio can take three inches of rain much more efficiently, as it is flatter and disperses the water better.
Greiser said the Freeport Hill has a notable history of landslides, including during a particularly rough bout with Hurricane Ivan, and a few times since then.
“It brought down a large chunk of (the hill,)” Greiser said. ”It was probably 300 to 400 yards away from this (landslide.)“
Shallenberger said landslides are less likely this week with drier conditions in the forecast. He said Butler County should remain dry until at least Friday.
He said the county is being protected from further rain by a “blocking pattern,” and that weather models can sometimes struggle to accurately predict the end of those patterns.
“Rain is a possibility Friday night,” Shallenberger said.
