Watauga County is the most likely county in the western North Carolina region to experience hazardous mud slides, according to an analysis underway by a state geology team.

Rick Wooten, a senior geologist with the N.C. Geologic Survey, said of the six counties targeted for landslide hazard mapping, Watauga showed the most data suggesting previous landslides, which he said was a predictor of future episodes. Of 2,000 landslides listed by the geologists in compiling a database of modern and prehistoric landslides in the mountain and Piedmont counties, 600 of those were in Watauga.

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Original article in Watauga Democrat...