Slide Injures 20 People At Multnomah Falls

A rock the size of a bus dislodged from Multnomah Falls on Monday, injuring 20 people at the popular tourist attraction.

There were about 60 people in the area at the time of the slide, including about 30 people in a wedding party.

“It was just water and rocks shooting all over,” said Jeff Geert, who was in the wedding party.

Thirteen people were taken to area hospitals with broken bones and other injuries; seven others were treated at the scene, said Portland Fire Bureau spokesman Rob Ware.

Ware said a search and rescue team was making a sweep through the area, but authorities believe nobody is missing.

The rock that was dislodged was so big that the waterfall’s shape was changed by the slide.

Witnesses reported hearing a crack, then watching as a slab of rock 25 feet wide and about 8 feet high dislodged from the rock face behind upper Multnomah Falls and fell about 150 feet into a pool of water.

People standing on a bridge 95 feet above the pool were sprayed with water and rock debris that shot hundreds of feet in the air.

“The pressure of the water almost threw her off the bridge,” said Bill French, 44, of St. Louis, who was on the bridge with his girlfriend, Linda Harrison.

“A rock hit her in the head. I grabbed her and a rock smashed my arm between her and the bridge.

“It scared me to death. We thought the bridge was going to fall.”

Harrison, 44, of St. Louis, was taken to a hospital. French didn’t require hospitalization.

Oregon Highways 30 and 35 were closed to allow emergency traffic to get through, state police said.

Multnomah Falls, located at the west end of the Columbia Gorge, about 25 miles east of Portland, is Oregon’s most popular tourist attraction, drawing more than 2 million visitors a year to view two towering waterfalls.

It consists of an upper waterfall that drops 542-feet into a pool, which then drops into a second, 63-foot waterfall.

Ferris said that Labor Day is one of the busiest days of the year.

He said that, fortunately, cool weather Monday discouraged people from entering the pool into which the rock fell.

Tony and Cami Silveira had completed their wedding ceremony and were taking pictures on the bridge when the rock fell.

The bride said the slide bodes well for their marriage.

“We got the tragedy out of the way and now we’re home free.”