Causes, continuing dangers revealed in final report on deadly Kootenay slide

NELSON, B.C. – We will find out later today what the Regional District of Central Kootenay plans for the landslide-devastated community of Johnsons Landing, on the shores of Kootenay Lake, in southeast B.C.

A final report will be released at 3 p.m., examining the causes of the landslide and any continuing danger in the region.

Sixty-year-old Valentine Webber and his daughters, 22-year-old Diana and 17-year-old Rachel, died along with 64-year-old German national Petra Frehse, when at least three homes were engulfed as the massive slide tore through the tiny hamlet on July 12, 2012.

Mountains of log-studded debris remains piled as much as 10 metres deep around the shattered homes.

An analysis in the weeks following the slide revealed heavy rains one month earlier had saturated the steep hillside above the community, sending tens-of-thousands of tonnes of muck and debris thundering downward.

Geo-technical experts say the chance of further slides is almost inevitable and residents of Johnsons Landing have only been permitted brief trips back to their homes over the last year to salvage what they can.

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