INDEX — A slow-moving mudslide continues to cause hardships for people living in a private community near here.
Debris started sliding down a hillside in the Mount Index Riversites community in December 2013. Since then, about a dozen cabins, most of which were used for recreation, have been destroyed or abandoned, said Thom Boullioun, who runs the homeowners group’s Facebook page.
“It’s strange to see the hillside melting like this,” he said.
But life, Boullioun said, is improving despite inconveniences such as occasional power outages.
Debris blocked Mount Index River Road, cutting off vehicle access to about 100 homes for the better part of 2014. Boullioun and his neighbors who live east of Sunset Falls for months had to hike up to three miles to their homes with gas, groceries and supplies. They were lugging necessities through steep, slippery terrain.
“Being a private community, we’re kind of left to our own devices,” said Boullioun, a retired Boeing worker. “It’s like the Wild West out here.”
The Riversites homeowners group inked a $500,000 deal last spring with the Snohomish County Public Utility District to share the cost of putting in a bridge over the South Fork Skykomish River. Access to 250 properties, including about 100 homes, was restored in August when the galvanized-steel bridge opened just upstream of Canyon Falls.
“It’s been a wonderful success,” said Riversites Board Treasurer Phil Reichel. “We now have full access to our community.”
The PUD helped the homeowners by paying roughly half the cost for the bridge. In return, the utility gained access to Riversites properties to study an area where it has proposed a controversial hydropower project on the scenic river.
Reichel said the inclusion of Mount Index in county, state and federal emergency declarations with the deadly Oso mudslide helped the homeowners manage their way through bureaucracy. Riversites did not receive federal aid, but the disaster declaration allowed the community to sidestep red tape and expedite bridge permitting.
Now, just one cabin owner can’t drive to his home from U.S. 2. Riversites recently abandoned efforts to maintain part of Mount Index River Road near Sunset Falls because gray streams of mud keep coming down the hillside. The private road now is blocked by a locked gate.
Riversites spent more than $75,000 before abandoning efforts to clear the road.
“The board basically gave up on trying to scoop mud,” Reichel said.
The community of about 350 property owners have long dealt with landslides. But the hillside doesn’t usually keep moving, Reichel said.
“It’s now a big pile of mud. I don’t even recognize it,” Boullioun said. “A lot of people are just giving up and staying away.”
Amy Nile: 425-339-3192; anile@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @AmyNileReports.
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