Debris Flow, Hood Canal/Kitsap Peninsula
- When
- January 19, 8:00 AM PST
- Where
- Hood Canal/Kitsap Peninsula forecast zone
- Deaths
- 4 direct, 0 indirect
Debris Flow in Washington, January 19, 1997
A mudslide kills a family of four while they were sleeping in their home. The house, on Bainbridge Island, slid down a hill into Puget Sound.
The toll
- Deaths
- 4
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- None recorded
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 1
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
What happened
The episode as NWS SEW wrote it up.
A mudslide kills a family of four while they were sleeping in their home. The house, on Bainbridge Island, slid down a hill into Puget Sound. 20 other homes in the vicinity were evacuated. Two days before the slide, the nearby city of Hoodsport received 2.91 inches of rain in 24 hours.
Event by event
1 debris flow. Local standard time, as filed.
The people who died
As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.
| Event | Date | Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Debris Flow, Hood Canal/Kitsap Peninsula | 1997-01-19 | 43 | Male | Permanent Home | Direct |
| Debris Flow, Hood Canal/Kitsap Peninsula | 1997-01-19 | 36 | Female | Permanent Home | Direct |
| Debris Flow, Hood Canal/Kitsap Peninsula | 1997-01-19 | 2 | Male | Permanent Home | Direct |
| Debris Flow, Hood Canal/Kitsap Peninsula | 1997-01-19 | 1 | Male | Permanent Home | Direct |
What these are
- Debris Flow
- A fast-moving slurry of mud, rock and debris, usually on a slope soaked by heavy rain or stripped by a fire.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Cold in Florida, January 19, 1997
- Frost and Freeze in Florida, January 19, 1997
- Cold in New Mexico, January 19, 1997
- Cold in New York, January 19, 1997
- Flash Flood in Hawaii, January 19 to 20, 1997
- Flood in Hawaii, January 19 to 20, 1997
- Cold in Vermont, January 19, 1997
- Cold in New York, January 19, 1997
- Heavy Snow in Montana, January 19, 1997
- Heavy Snow in West Virginia, January 19 to 20, 1997
- Flood in Hawaii, January 19, 1997
- Flood in Hawaii, January 19, 1997
More
Every storm in Washington in 1997Every state in 1997This day in weather historyWarnings in Washington, January 1997
Sources
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5585225.