sand pile

Forbes explains how so many vortices might all unpin at once: “Like dropping sand onto a sand pile — nothing really happens until … you get a whole avalanche.”

A sand pile or wall to hold back the rocks, meanwhile, would have to be 230 feet high to protect Brienz.

The production had few fussy touches — a chandelier stood for something or other, there was a scenic sand pile — but mainly it put Irene front and center, and that was exactly what was needed.

By noon, only a third of the sand pile remained.

"I'm looking at a sand pile and concrete where the garage was," he said.