Oregon Public Broadcasting

In Eastern Washington residents of the Nile Valley have less than a month before they are cut off from civilization.

A massive landslide earlier this month obliterated part of Highway 410 and rerouted the Naches River.

The federal government is spending $1 million to help build a new route. But the enormous slide remains unstable, and even a new road might not hold.

Correspondent Anna King trekked past the landslide barriers to bring us this update from the Nile Valley.

Jenifer Rodgers: "Sun's out. Not bad. It's kind of warm."

Jenifer Rodgers, 38, owns Squaw Rock Resort just off Highway 410 in Eastern Washington. She says most of the hunters and campers she had booked have cancelled since the massive landslide took out part of Highway 410 earlier this month. She's not sure her business will survive the disaster.

Jenifer Rodgers walks out the back door of her restaurant and grocery shop to show me her campground just off Highway 410.

It's idyllic. It's a crisp fall day in the mountains, there's the rush of a river nearby and the shade of tall pines. The problem? It's too quiet for the start of the hunting season.

Jenifer Rodgers: "So down here you'll see, we have, well there's probably about 10 full-service RV parking spots here, and they're all vacant. Just since Monday, we had two or three of them that were already here pull out and leave early."

The landslide calamity is especially painful during a down economy and her best time of year -- the fall hunting season.

Throughout our visit the phone keeps ringing. Each call brings yet another cancelation.

Jenifer Rodgers: "Probably like everyone else up here, we have mortgage payments to make. Yeah, we would be cut off and we won't be able to make our payments and people will be stuck. So yeah, I am scared ëcause the potential for losing our business is pretty high."

Several resorts in the Nile Valley face the same situation. Even more troubling to residents, they have about a month before winter cuts off both their routes out of the valley.

That's 600 homes and businesses marooned. The state closes Highway 410 during the winter, because avalanches and rockslides. And the temporary route toward Yakima will wash out when the Naches River rises with rain and snow.

That leaves the state a tight timeline of less than a month to construct miles of new road.

Chris Gregoire: "We don't know what the solution is right there right now."

Washington Governor Chris Gregoire recently toured the landslide by helicopter. She says the slide is still unstable, and even a new road around it might be short lived.

Chris Gregoire: "Even if we elevate that temporary fix, it's really quite vulnerable to flooding."

Clyde Robinson, 66, wades through the Naches River, which has been rerouted across his property by a massive landslide. Residents in the Nile Valley have just about a month before a temporary road out of the valley is washed out. State officials say they are working on a solution, but are not sure what to do yet.

Some residents of Nile Valley don't have time to wait for a government solution.

Clyde Robinson slugs through the water cutting through his property. The massive slide looms just across the street.

The 66-year-old sports tall rubber boots. His newly built board fence is now under rushing water.

Clyde Robinson: "There is a whole lot of stuff here that will never be salvageable."

Anna King: "Was this your retirement place?"

Clyde Robinson: "Yes, it was."

Robinson and his wife hope they might be compensated for their loss. But Governor Gregoire says FEMA money or even insurance coverage for this disaster is unlikely.

Still, residents of the Nile Valley chose to live in the mountains. And Clyde Robinson voices a sentiment you hear a lot around here.

Clyde Robinson: "It's one of the things that happen that people have no control over. Mother Nature does her thing and then we have to compensate for it. And that's all there is to it. And it's not nice, it's not fun, it's not a happy time but it's something that you have to live with and deal with."

Robinson didn't have much time to talk.

He slogged back across the river to finish the grim job of saving what he could.

Online:

Washington State Department of Transportation