Multnomah Falls Slide Injures 20

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 people were treated at the scene, said Portland Fire Bureau spokesman Rob Ware.

Witnesses reported hearing a crack, then watching as a slab of rock 25 feet wide and about eight feet tall 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. “It scared me to death,” said Bill French of St. Louis. “We thought the bridge was going to fall.”