According to the newspaper this morning, there were no buses available due to all or most of them tied up because of sports events that were going on in the Seattle area. The mud slide in question occurred in an area that has not been problematic and it was unusual. BNSF will clear mudslides fairly quickly and let freights through but has a strict policy of not letting passenger trains through for 48 hours following the slide.

Like California and Oregon, Washington State has been inundated with record rainfall this year.

Incidentally, the new Nisqually cut-off that will have passenger trains south of Tacoma travel inland instead of along Puget Sound is nearly ready for operation. If it had been available the mudslide would have been avoided.