I'm in California at the moment- and for the next 8 or 10 days - traveling by train. Coming down from Seattle, I've spent almost as much time on buses as on trains because of mudslides, sinkholes and consequent derailments. The last I've heard, as of night before last there is no rail service in the Los Angeles-San Diego areas. Amtrak says that it may be two weeks before some of the lines open. I don't feel like complaining, because my inconveniences pale beside the hurt some of these people are suffering.

If Amos checks in here, I'd love to give him a quick call in order to say HI! I'm in Escondido for the next few days.

Juneau, Alaska also has some hazardous building sites within known avalanche chutes, especially one notorious one that cleans itself off about every thirty years. It last slid in 1973.

Historically it is not the slide that does most of the damage but the high wind it creates. There is a local snow avalanche expert, Bill Glude, who thinks that it would save the city money if it bought the properties and then forbade any rebuilding in the areas.