Carolina Public Press
By Kirk Ross:
In Western North Carolina, it does not take a tragedy like the one last month in Washington State to drive home the risk of a landslide. Each year, there are at least a handful of reminders close by.
Some years, like last year, the risk is obvious. Heavy rains in January, February, May and July triggered a season of landslides in WNC.
Lynn Sprague, executive director of the Southwestern North Carolina Regional Conservation and Development Council, said what was seen in 2013 was a vivid reminder of the need to continue identifying WNC’s landslide-prone areas.
The council, working with the Appalachian Regional Commission, has developed a grants program to pick up where the state of North Carolina left off when a Department of Environment and Natural Resources landslide mapping program lost its funding.
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