Crews waiting for northern B.C. landslide to stop rolling before going in

A slow moving landslide continues to rip up the earth near a small town in northeastern B.C., stopping crews from entering the area until the land stops shifting.

The B.C. Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure's northern region is using drones to monitorthe situation at Old Fort, just south of Fort St. John and waiting for an opening to go in.

They do not yet have an estimate of when the landslide will stabilize.

"That's our million dollar question," said Scott Maxwell, executive director with the ministry."Once it stops moving, that's going to be our trigger to get in there."

Until then, the safety risk to crews is too high.

Evacuation orders

The landslide, which started Saturday night, put roughly 50 homes under evacuation order or alert.

It also damaged the only road that provides access in and out of thesmall community ofOld Fort.

"It's either been completely covered or pushed out of the way," Maxwell told Carolina de Ryk, the host of CBC's Daybreak North.

"The toe of the slope is pushing through the road right now and that's what we're waiting to settle down."

Landslides are common in the region, Maxwell said, but this one is unusual because of its size and speed.

"Most of the time, landslides either come down quickly or they are coming down very, very slowly," he said.

"This is one of these few ones where people may actually be able to see it and feel it."

Causes unknown

The cause of the landslide is still unknown.

It's located about one kilometre from the eastern entrance to the Site C worksite, but BC Hydro said there is no evidence the slide is related to the project.

"With failures like this, they are incredibly, incredibly complex and I don't think we'll ever be able to pinpoint one thing," Maxwell said.

"It is at the site of an old landslide and they do reactivate from time to time."

B.C. Hydro is working on restoring power to the affected areas.

"While it may appear to be moving very slowly right now, slides of this magnitude can be very volatile, so we do encourage people to stay away from it," Maxwell said.

Details on evacuation orders and alerts, as well as information on how to get assistance, can be found onlineor by calling 250 784-3200.

With files from Daybreak North.

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