When wet winter weather sets in, many residents of the Puget Sound area begin to worry about landslides. Landslides that occur on bluffs and hillsides of communities surrounding Puget Sound, Washington, pose a serious hazard to people, property, utilities, transportation, and businesses. After major storms caused hundreds of destructive landslides during the winter of 1996-97, the USGS began studies of landslides in the Seattle area. Subsequently, at the beginning of Seattle 's Project Impact in February 1998, the USGS and Seattle agreed to collaborate on producing state of the art landslide and seismic hazard maps for the city. The USGS recently completed its suite of landslide maps for Seattle and developed methods that can be used to forecast the occurrence of landslides. |