Camp Davidson struck by landslide

A New Year’s weekend landslide sent tons of dirt and rocks into Camp Davidson, filling a maintenance shop with dirt and burying four automobiles and nearly covering a dump truck.

The slide began slowly Friday afternoon, December 30 and by late Saturday had done its damage.

The half-mile long slide began as a trickle of water around 5:30 p.m. Friday. It soon increased to a torrent of flowing water, dirt and rocks from the hillside above the church camp buildings.

“I thought a water main had broken when I first saw the water flowing,” said Carl Anderson, manager of the church camp.

Eventually, it created a gully about 20 feet wide and almost as deep, carrying dirt and water into the camp, stranding some guests, and ending up in Link Creek that flows through the camp into Suttle Lake.

This landslide came just a month short of 10 years after a similar slide struck the camp, in February 1996. That slide eventually opened up a 100-foot gap on Highway 20, closing the main access to Central Oregon for a week. Anderson was not at the camp in 1996, but has seen photos and read a report of that slide.

Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) officials inspected this weekend’s slide and believe it will not damage the highway.

“I was in the maintenance shop late Friday afternoon with a friend, my daughter and my dog. I was preparing one my cars for repainting when I heard water running outside,” Anderson said. “Gradually, the flow of water increased to where I told the others to leave the building. I left the downhill side door open thinking it might all just flow through. I checked back at 9 p.m. and found two feet of dirt inside the building. I opened up the main door all the way and notified the camp director.”

By Saturday morning at 4:30 a.m., the debris flow had increased to three feet. Below the maintenance building dirt was held back by a wooden fence.

“That diverted most of the flow for quite a while, sparing another building and several vehicles,” Anderson said. “By 9 a.m., there were nine feet of soil on the north side of the building and five feet on the south side. Then the water and dirt flowed down one of our roads to the east and entered the main road to the Suttle Lake boat ramp. The snow berm held the water in the road as it flowed towards Link Creek, then moved down a plowed driveway and surrounded another of our buildings along the creek. Eventually, it pushed through the berm, taking out the shoulder of the road and moved into Link Creek.”

By the end of the initial flow, dirt filled the inside of the maintenance building and four automobiles were covered, including Anderson’s 1969 Volkswagen Beetle inside the garage, his 1967 Shelby Mustang parked outside, the camp’s 1979 GMC pickup, and a 1978 Toyota also parked outside. The camp’s dump truck was half buried by the dirt.

Anderson estimates that his personal loss is between $35,000 and $40,000, hopefully covered by insurance.

“The vehicles will have to be cleaned up and overhauled,” he added.

Hopefully, his renter’s insurance will cover the loss of personal tools and other items. No estimate was available on the camp’s damage. Insurance may cover much of their loss.

The slide may have been caused by a combination of events including the heavy rain, the saturated soil, water runoff down the highway, and culverts plugged by snow berms.

As the slide problem developed, Anderson became concerned about the safety of the highway. Trying to reach any government office on a long holiday weekend proved to be a challenge.

“That’s when I finally decided to call 9-1-1 and everyone responded quickly,” he said.

Among those responding were the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, Camp Sherman Search and Rescue, Sisters-Camp Sherman Fire Department, and ODOT. As others arrived on the scene, Anderson was impressed with people being available on a long holiday weekend and by the fact that many of the responders knew one another from past incidents.

Early on, Anderson had moved all of the 139 overnight guests at the camp for the holiday weekend to the other side of Link Creek. He found out that three of the guests were unable to move their cars over roads blocked by debris. At that time, ODOT officials advised him not to move any of the debris until they could have a geologist examine the site to determine its stability. A geologist later gave the go-ahead to remove dirt from the camp area.

By Sunday, things had stabilized, but there was concern about contamination of Link Creek and Suttle Lake. Anderson had removed gasoline stored in the building and chlorine used in a nearby swimming pool, but a large empty fuel tank had been pushed clear to Link Creek and there was concern about leakage of gas and oil from the covered vehicles. A Department of Environmental Quality hydrologist from Portland made the long trip to the camp on Sunday and confirmed that all the right precautions had been taken and no con-tamination had occurred.

The empty fuel tank also was determined by a private response crew to not be a problem.

The camp plans to have a hydrology plan developed that will guide it in avoiding future landslides.

By Monday, Anderson had a backhoe coming to the camp ready to begin the long cleanup job.

Camp Davidson is a church camp operated by the Oregon District of the Assemblies of God. It was established in 1960 and covers 39 acres on the western shore of Suttle Lake.