Mudslide briefly blocks railroad tracks in Bellingham

A small mudslide off Roeder Avenue briefly covered a set of railroad tracks beneath a row of houses Thursday afternoon Jan. 7.

The slide took out a slice of a steep, roughly 70-foot embankment above the 1800 block of Roeder Avenue, across from Squalicum Marina.

No one was hurt, and the nearest home — a green two-story bungalow at 1919 Eldridge Ave. — took no damage to the building or its yard, said Bellingham Assistant Fire Chief Bill Hewett.

Mud, sand and blackberry bushes fell onto the railroad tracks below, covering the northernmost track. Crews from BNSF cleared the debris within minutes.

“The bigger question is what the future stability of the slope is,” Hewett said. The bushes helped to stabilize the hill, he said.

Firefighters called city inspectors to check the safety of the hill and the homes on top of it.

Bellingham has been fairly dry lately, getting only 0.12 inch of precipitation in the past week, according to the National Weather Service. However, December was a relatively wet month as the city got more than 6 inches of rain.

This story was originally published January 7, 2016 at 2:55 PM with the headline "Mudslide briefly blocks railroad tracks in Bellingham."