More water lines shut off in Jackson

Water was being shut off for businesses and homes on West Broadway due to a slow-moving landslide in Jackson on Tuesday.

Town officials said they are making sure everyone has clean water. Water on West Broadway should be back on by 7 p.m.

Also on Tuesday, crews were working to repair the sewer on Budge Drive, where the hillside is sliding and utilities have been reduced.

The hill shifted an inch in the last 24 hours.

Geologists are looking into the cause of the slide. It is slow-moving and rocky, and they don’t expect it to be as severe as the slide in Oso, Wash., which demolished homes and killed more than 40 people.

Kevin Larson lives on Budge Drive and has to hike up a big hill to get to his studio.
Larson said because he has to hike up the hill, most of his belongings are still in his car.

“If this road doesn’t reopen, I will have to find another place to live,” Larson said.

His studio was once a part of the mandatory evacuation zone but now it’s a part of the evacuation advisory zone.

“The question is, does it continue for the next two months? Because I am not interested in living here. The electricity is getting cut off today, the gas was cut off four days ago. We have had several electric outages,” Larson said.

City officials in Jackson are trying to help people like Larson who have been affected. The public information officer dealing with the slide, Charlotte Reynolds, said the hill shifted an inch in the last 24 hours and experts are trying to predict the slide’s next move.

“We’re drilling more bore holes to get a better understanding of the land movement so they can tell us what material is in the slide,” Reynolds said.