{"686059":{"#nid":"686059","#data":{"type":"external_news","title":"Hurricane Melissa threatens catastrophic flash flooding and landslides in the Caribbean","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe Blue Mountains in eastern Jamaica could be a region where landslides occur with heavy rain due to steep hill slopes, said \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/eas.gatech.edu\/people\/lang-karl\u0022\u003EKarl Lang\u003C\/a\u003E, an assistant professor of geology at the Georgia Institute of Technology.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELang said regions that have been clearcut for agriculture could be susceptible to landslides because the plants that previously grew there helped bind the soil together by the strength of their roots.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESome roads built on steep hills in Puerto Rico were affected by landslides when Hurricane Fiona (2022) and Hurricane Maria (2017) hit, said Lang. \u201cEvery time you cut into a steep slope, you make a steeper slope above the road,\u201d he said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe real problem there is that you create the road that\u2019s your conduit in and out of the location \u2026 and then the landslide dams the road. You create your own problem both by creating the increased probability of a landslide, but also by having those landslides occur where you need to go,\u201d said Lang.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe Blue Mountains in eastern Jamaica could be a region where landslides occur with heavy rain due to steep hill slopes, said \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/eas.gatech.edu\/people\/lang-karl\u0022\u003EKarl Lang\u003C\/a\u003E, an assistant professor of geology at the Georgia Institute of Technology.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELang said regions that have been clearcut for agriculture could be susceptible to landslides because the plants that previously grew there helped bind the soil together by the strength of their roots.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESome roads built on steep hills in Puerto Rico were affected by landslides when Hurricane Fiona (2022) and Hurricane Maria (2017) hit, said Lang. \u201cEvery time you cut into a steep slope, you make a steeper slope above the road,\u201d he said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe real problem there is that you create the road that\u2019s your conduit in and out of the location \u2026 and then the landslide dams the road. You create your own problem both by creating the increased probability of a landslide, but also by having those landslides occur where you need to go,\u201d said Lang.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":"","uid":"36583","created_gmt":"2025-10-28 20:35:04","changed_gmt":"2025-10-29 14:26:36","author":"lvidal7","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","publication":"AP News","field_article_url":"","publication_url":"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/landslide-hurricane-rain-jamaica-cuba-hispaniola-f8256e538db4130cba2b2fc5909a5b80","dateline":{"date":"2025-10-27T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2025-10-27T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"364801","name":"School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences (EAS)"}],"categories":[{"id":"135","name":"Research"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"}],"keywords":[{"id":"4896","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"166926","name":"School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences"},{"id":"1860","name":"hurricane"},{"id":"192254","name":"cos-climate"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}