From fires to mudslides to earthquakes, Seattle has had some crazy times. Here’s a look back at 14 disastrous moments on the wild, wild West Coast.
Flood at Rattlesnake Lake, 1915
Rattlesnake lake was fed by seepage from an upstream dam, causing it to slowly rise and condemning the town of Moncton.
Moncton, 1915
Goodbye Moncton…
The Great Ravenna Sinkhole Sewer Failure, 1957
A break in a huge brick and quick sand sewer caused a cave-in. The hole measured 60 feet deep, 120 feet wide, 200 feet long. The total cost of repairing the cave-in was $2 million. The work took two years to complete.
Perkins Lane landslide, 1954
A wet winter wiped out five homes on the bluff overlooking Elliot Bay.
Fire at Pike Place Market, 1974
A worker salvaging steel tracks from the condemned Municipal Market building lost control of the cutting torch.
Flash flood in the Cascade Mountains, 1932
A wall of water and mud, 15-feet high and 150-feet wide killed seven and injured two in Edgewick.
Todd Shipyard Fire, 1964
300 firefighters, shipyard workers, and sailors battled the blaze for more than four hours.
Earthquake damage in Pioneer Square, 1949
A 7.1 magnitude earthquake hit between Olympia and Tacoma, killing eight.
What the earthquake did to Chehalis, 1949
Earthquake destruction outside the Busy Bee Cafe, 1949
Snowplow clearing avalanche at Snoqualmie Pass, 1936
Highway 20 washout and landslide, 2003
Skagit River flooding and associated mudslides damaged more than 40 roads and bridges, wiped out more than 15 popular trails and 20 trail bridges, and breached more than 30 miles of the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail in the winter of 2003.
Fire on Hinkley Block, 1908
Seattle Super Sonics stolen by Oklahoma City, 2008
This might be the most devastating photo of all.
