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LOGAN -- Questions are still circling around the cause of Saturday's deadly landslide in Logan and who might have known about the hillside's dangers.
Worried residents filed complaints with the city. The state legislature even commissioned a study through Utah State University to look into the hillside's stability, but no one was warned. In hindsight, many are saying they should have been.
"I would have hoped more would have been done," Logan resident Larry Jardine said.
Larry Jardine is one of them. He's lived in this Logan neighborhood for 45 years.
City officials even feel that way, but admit it didn't happen
"They should have been warned by someone," said Logan Public Works Director Mark Nielsen. "We did not warn the residents."
There's still no official determination as to what caused Saturday's deadly landslide.
"The description of it exploding isn't too far from the truth, because the hillside came right out onto the foundations within seconds," USU professor Robert Pack.
Authorities say it's different than anything that's happened in the last 100 years.
"This was not caused by events above the canal. This was a failure of the constructed fill under the canal," Nielsen said.
Authorities also know water had something to do with it.
"The smoking gun is water. Water saturation is what causes these type of things to happen," Pack said.
Some believe the canal is to blame for too much water; Logan resident Tyler Pitcher took pictures showing cracks and holes in it.
In a May city council meeting the mayor even said water is leaking from the canal due to cracks in the walls. It will probably be a while before anything is determined. Residents just hope now everything will be figured out.
"Unfortunately, people had to lose their lives, and now maybe we'll react to it," Jardine said.
E-mail: corton@ksl.com
