Huge hillside collapse shuts down road near Yeager Airport, West Virginia

Aerial photo by West Virginia National Guard shows the extent of the landslide that’s closed Keystone Drive. Yeager Airport said about a third of the engineered fill beneath its main runway overrun area has collapsed

A worst-case scenario became reality Thursday when a large portion of the Yeager Airport hillside — which began experiencing some disturbing slippage over the weekend — collapsed into the valley along Keystone Drive, destroying at least one house, damaging a church, blocking a creek and forcing the evacuation of dozens of residents.

Now officials are scrambling to mitigate damage as they wait on a man-made mountain to finish its bow to gravity.

"It's a bad situation," said Kanawha County Commission President Kent Carper. "This is a very serious event."

Airport officials initially sounded an alarm Wednesday when they evacuated six people from two houses along Keystone Drive as a precaution when a portion of the hillside underneath the main runway's emergency overrun area slipped about 6 feet over the weekend. Most of the overrun area, known officially as the Engineered Material Arresting System, or EMAS area, was built about eight years ago atop an engineered fill containing about 1.5 million cubic yards of dirt. It was the back portion of that area that began shifting significantly over the weekend.

During an emergency airport board meeting Wednesday, airport officials and representatives from the airport's consulting firm Triad Engineering said the chance of a landslide was slight, but they couldn't discount the possibility.

"The likelihood of a catastrophic failure and it being down in those houses or on that church is slight, but if there is a risk, you're talking about people's lives and I could never live with myself if we didn't strongly encourage them (to relocate)," airport executive director Rick Atkinson said at the time.

However, that remote possibility became a stark reality a short time after noon Thursday when about a third of the engineered fill area began collapsing into the valley below.

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Kanawha County emergency services officials quickly shut down Keystone Drive at its entrances along Greenbrier Street and Barlow Drive and began urging residents in the area, which runs along Elk Two Mile Creek, to evacuate their homes.

Utilities crews from Appalachian Power, Mountaineer Gas, West Virginia American Water and Lumos Networks all rushed to the scene as the landslide toppled power lines, and either severed, damaged or put at risk gas, water and fiber optic lines running through the area.

Mountaineer Gas spokesman Larry Meador said a small gas line ruptured during the landslide, and many in the area reported smelling natural gas as utility crews advised them not to smoke. Meador said crews were able to work quickly to contain the problem.

"There's no danger at this time with our gas line," Meador said.

He said to contain the leak, the company shut off the gas supply to about 30 customers along Keystone Drive. He said crews would work to restore service to those homes later today by piping in gas from a different direction.

West Virginia American Water experienced a similar disruption of service, and crews were working during the evening to reroute water supply.

Aerial photo by West Virginia National Guard shows the extent of the landslide that’s closed Keystone Drive. Yeager Airport said about a third of the engineered fill beneath its main runway overrun area has collapsed.

Yeager Airport has been in constant contact with engineers from both Triad Engineering and Canonsburg, Pa.-based Cast & Baker Corp., which did the original engineering for the fill project.

Airport marketing director Brian Belcher said the crews are working on a plan to contain damage and repair the site, but they can't do anything until the hillside settles.

"We have to let this stabilize because it's not safe for anyone right now," Belcher said. "After the engineers and professionals in that area determine it's safe to work, we have equipment on site ready to go to begin remediation."

Belcher said about eight families had been relocated to area hotels as of Thursday evening. The airport is covering the entire cost of the hotel and any needs the families may have while they're away from their homes. Officials with the American Red Cross also are assisting the airport with feeding families and providing any essentials they may need.

Belcher said affected should call Kim Lewis of Yeager Airport at 304-550-8131 for housing assistance.

Carper said local and state officials are monitoring the situation from a safe distance. While they don't have the power to hold the mountain at bay, he said they are working to mitigate any potential complications from the landslide.

"We're preparing for every potential that we can think of," Carper said.

Officials are concerned about potential rainfall that is forecast for Friday and Saturday. That could both worsen the landslide as well as create a potential flooding problem.

Part of the landslide has now blocked a portion of Elk Two Mile Creek. Kanawha Deputy Emergency Manager and Fire Coordinator C.W. Sigman said officials are working on a plan to clear the stream, but admitted that could be a tricky situation.

Aerial photo by West Virginia National Guard shows landslide collapsing into Elk Two Mile Creek. Officials worry the landslide will dam the creek and flood homes along Keystone Drive.

"What we're concerned about, if (the hill) does slide worse and it fills the creek up, we'll have two issues," Sigman said. "We'll have a pretty good-sized dam that we need to not flood people upstream."

Sigman said there was an excavator standing by to break a path through the earthen dam in the creek, but said if too much water builds up upstream, it could create a problem for those living downstream along the creek.

"We don't want it to become too big a dam to where it releases too much at once and floods people downstream," Sigman said.

Residents and businesses along the creek have been warned of the flooding potential.

The Kanawha-Charleston Humane Association is already evacuating animals in case of a flood. All of the cats at the shelter were fostered out with help from the Itty Bitty Kitty Committee and the dogs were being taken to Camp Virgil Tate near Sissonville.

One potential complication worrying officials is a possible additional crack that might be developing at the top of the hill in the runway overrun area. Sigman said officials were warned of the potential new crack Thursday afternoon, but they have yet to be able to evaluate whether it is fully developed or could break away in a second landslide.

"We put in a request through the state which will be granted that way we can get a helicopter and put our airport engineers in it so they can take a look at it and see what's going on," Sigman said as he watched operations along Keystone Drive. "We can't see it from here."

As of Thursday evening, the landslide had yet to affect flights at Yeager Airport.

Only about the farthest third of the 440-foot airport overrun area has been affected by the landslide. Airport officials said only about the first 150 feet or so of the overrun area is really needed to stop the planes that fly into and out of the area, and most of that area sits atop the original mountain rock, not on the engineered fill.

Belcher said the biggest threat to airport operations at this time is the risk of flooding due to the obstructed creek. The only way to drive up to Yeager Airport is on a road that crosses Elk Two Mile Creek. If the creek floods over the bridge leading to the airport, the airport would have to shut down.

"That would close us because that's our only entry," Belcher said.