Three people were killed and three were missing after a landslide ripped through dense forests, rain-soaked mountainsides and smashed into homes in a remote fishing community in southeast Alaska.
The slide — estimated to be 450 feet wide — happened about 9 p.m. Monday during heavy rain and wind storms near Wrangell, an island community of 2,000 people about 155 miles south of the state capital Juneau.
Rescuers found the body of a girl in an early search and late Tuesday the bodies of two adults were found by drone operators.
Investigators used cadaver-sniffing dogs and heat-detecting drones to search for two children and an adult who were missing after the disaster, while the Coast Guard and other vessels looked along the beach littered with rocks, trees and mud.
Alaska State Troopers spokesman Austin McDaniel said a woman who was upstairs in a home was rescued.
He is in good condition and receiving medical treatment.
One of the three homes hit was unoccupied, McDaniel said.
A mother and daughter hug at a community center open for people displaced by a landslide in Wrangel, Alaska on Tuesday. 21 Nov. AP
“Our community is resilient,” interim Wrangell regional manager Mason Villarma told The Associated Press in a phone interview. “And it always comes together for tragedies like this. We are broken, but resilient and determined to find all the missing people.”
Gov. Mike Dunleavy issued a disaster declaration for Wrangell, saying he and his wife are heartbroken and praying for all those affected.
Landslides leave scars of barren land from near the top of the mountain down to the ocean.
A large number of evergreen trees were uprooted from the ground and a highway was buried by debris, cutting off access and electricity to about 75 homes.
A large number of evergreen trees were uprooted from the ground and a highway was buried in debris, cutting off access and electricity to about 75 homes.AP
Military forces said a large-scale search and rescue mission was initially impossible because the site was unstable and dangerous.
A geologist from the state transportation department was flown in from Juneau and conducted a preliminary assessment, clearing several areas of the debris field for a ground search.
Military officials warned of the threat of additional landslides.
They urged people trapped on the other side of the slide, far from Wrangell, to evacuate by water taxi.
Wrangell received about 2 inches of rain between 1 a.m. and 8 p.m. Monday, with winds gusting up to 60 mph at higher elevations, said Aaron Jacobs, a hydrologist and meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Juneau.
Military forces said a large-scale search and rescue mission was initially impossible because the site was unstable and dangerous.AP
It was part of a powerful storm system moving through southeast Alaska, bringing heavy snow in places and blizzard-like conditions to Juneau and rain and minor flooding to areas farther south.
Landslides were also reported in the Ketchikan area and on Prince of Wales Island, he said.
The amount of rain Wrangell received Monday is not unusual, Jacobs said, but high winds can help trigger slides.
Saturated soil can give way when gusts of wind blow trees down slopes, said Barrett Salisbury, a geologist with the Alaska Department of Natural Resources.
Saturated soil can give way when gusts of wind blow trees down slopes, said Barrett Salisbury, a geologist with the Alaska Department of Natural Resources.AP
Another storm system is expected in the Wrangell area late Wednesday into Thursday.
Wrangell is one of the oldest non-Alaska Native settlements in the state, founded in 1811 when Russians began trading with the Tlingits, according to the state’s database of Alaska communities.
Tlingits, Russians, British and Americans all contributed to the historical influence on Wrangell. Logging was once the main economic driver, but that has shifted to commercial fishing.
Wrangell is one of the oldest non-Alaska Native settlements in the state, founded in 1811 when Russians began trading with the Tlingits, according to the state database of Alaska communities.AP
In December 2020, heavy rain caused a landslide in another southeast Alaskan town, claiming two lives.
The 200-yard-wide slide swept through neighborhoods in the Haines community, leaving about 9 feet of mud and trees covering city streets.
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