Section of Sammamish Parkway to be Closed Indefinitely After Slide

A stretch of West Lake Sammamish Parkway SE will be closed indefinitely while city of Bellevue engineers assess damage to the street and utilities from a mudslide on Sunday, according to the city

The slide, which occurred around 11:45 a.m. Sunday, washed mud and water into three lakefront homes and a garage that all sit below the roadway. The slide undermined the road, exposing the underside of the road.

There are several more homes between the roadway and Lake Sammamish, but it doesn't appear that any other homes are threatened, said Mike Jackman, Bellevue Utilities interim deputy director.

"We think this is an isolated event and that there is no further instability," he said. 

It is unknown if a broken water main resulted in the mudslide, or the mudslide compromised the area around the water main, resulting in the break, according to a city press release.

Bellevue Utilities crews made temporary repairs to the water main, at the 500 block of West Lake Sammamish Parkway, and all but three homes have had water service restored, the city said.

Four properties were evacuated after the slide. No injuries were reported. 

Neighbor Ricci Crinzi, who ran outside after her dad saw the wall of mud slide out from under main road into the homes and then into Lake Sammamish, said most of the neighbors were not home when the mudslide occurred.

"There was a gushing stream of water and mud," she said. "It just looked like a river of mud."

West Lake Sammamish Parkway is closed from NE Second Street at Northup Way (north) to SE 26th Street (south) until further notice. From the south end, drivers will be detoured to Southeast 26th Street, leading to 168th and 164th avenues Southeast.  From the north end, drivers will be detoured to Northup Way and Northeast Eighth Street.  Local access only is permitted between Northeast Second and Southeast 26th streets.