By Tim Clifford

On Friday three homes on the 25000 block of 8 Ave. S. in Des Moines, near the entrance to Saltwater State Park, were evacuated after a landslide cut across their backyards. The slide cut nearly 200 feet across the three yards and created a sheer ledge nearly 200 feet to the beach below.

None of the homeowners or their pets were injured during the slide.

The worst of the damage struck the home of Gary and Suzy Williams where a portion of their back deck toppled over 40 feet down the cliff during the slide.

“They ended up spending the night with us last night; we live right down in Redondo. He is of course very upset, very depressed, him and his wife Suzy,” said Rick Williams, Gary’s brother, outside of their home on Saturday afternoon.

“They have spent almost all night… I wouldn’t say necessarily crying, but just very emotional,” he explained of the couple.

Police tape now blocks off the driveways of the three homes that were affected, with the Williams home sitting in the middle. On the front porch of each house is red sign from the City of Des Moines that reads “DO NOT ENTER, UNSAFE TO OCCUPY”. The signs were posted and signed by Code Enforcement Officer Nancy Uhrich. There is no better vantage point to appreciate the damage and frightening power of the slide than from the backyards of these homes. Rick Williams and his father Tom gave a quick tour of Gary and Suzy’s backyard to the Highline Times on Sat. afternoon.

Once inside the fence to their yard it is less than 30 feet from the back door of their home to the sheer ledge where a portion of their deck that overlooked the Puget Sound was lost. The remains of the porch now sit 40 feet down the hill crumpled and on its side.

Looking across the yard and into their neighbor’s backyard large cracks are visible in the lawn that runs down the hill, showing where the earth underneath is giving way.

Just days before the Williams had hired day laborers to tie the end portion of their porch down and attempted to reinforce it against the sliding hillside.

“They were simply repairing it because it was sliding, they saw that it had dropped and they thought ‘oh, jeez I better take care of this’. So they were tying it off to see what had to be done in order to fix it and it just kept sliding off and sliding off,” explained Rick.

As Rick explained the City of Des Moines contacted the Williams and their neighbors Friday afternoon and ordered them to leave their homes. Geology experts contacted the families at around 8 a.m. on Sat. to assess the stability of the ground beneath their homes. It is unknown at this time when those results will come in.

For Suzy and Gary, a real estate agent and banker respectively, the stress of the damage and potential for further damage is compounded this weekend with finding temporary homes for their three dogs to stay.

“One of their daughters took the three dogs last night and then they’re going to take the three dogs and spread them around today,” said Rick.