Incredible Mudslide Caught on Camera in Taiwan

–
This incredible footage of a mudslide was caught via a dashboard camera in Taiwan yesterday. It seems this area of the island had been suffering from some severe weather recently, resulting in the slipping of a major piece of earth.

This one driver had a VERY close call. Keep an eye out 3 seconds into the video at the top of the mountain, for a clue what’s about to come.

Mudslides are a mixture of water, soil and rock, often occurring in areas that receive excessive rainfall. As the land becomes saturated with water, gravity takes over and the soil and earth loses its grip on the rock below resulting in a mudflow.

While one incident cannot be linked to climate change, mudflows are one of the increasing hazards of a climate that produces more extreme weather events.

Deforestation of mountainous regions is often blamed in contributing to the increased likelihood of mudslides. In 2010, over 700 people were killed in China’s Gansu province when a mudslide hit the county of Zhouqu. The triggering of the mudslides was believed to be as a result of damage caused by deforestation and dam building.

Luckily in this incident, it appears no-one was hurt.