Landslides

Landslides are the down-slope movement of unconsolidated material under the influence of gravity and are widespread in the province. The introduction of excess quantities of water to the slope, either from rainfall or snowmelt commonly is the trigger for such events. Excess water loads the slope material beyond its shear strength, at which point movement occurs. The water may also act as a lubricant and movement is commonly rapid. These landslides are known as debris flows or debris torrents. The slope angle and sediment texture (grain-size of material involved) are other important factors that control drainage from a slope. Areas on the slope with better drainage, commonly near the top, may fail by rotational slumping (where a block of sediment slowly rotes downward) during failure of the lower slope by flowage.

The list below is somewhat slanted toward incidents in the Humber – Corner Brook area; the main source of information was the Western Star, which tended to report local events in more detail. Although this area is highly landslide prone, many other similar incidents elsewhere in the province remain to be documented.

bold text indicates fatal incident.