Ketchikan, Alaska landslide kills at least 1, prompts evacuations

A landslide in the city of Ketchikan in extreme southeast Alaska has killed at least one person and injured at least three, local officials said.

It also prompted evacuation orders, damaged numerous homes and caused power outages, according to a statement from Borough Mayor Rodney Dial and Ketchikan Mayor Dave Kiffer.

Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy, Dial and Dunleavy all issued disaster declarations.

“I have directed state agencies to make available all resources and staff for the response effort,” Dunleavy said.

A shelter was set up at Ketchikan High School, officials said.

A potential secondary landslide area was identified south of the original slide and crews were standing by, the statement added.

Various local and state agencies responded. 

A Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management Response Specialist and federal Department of Transportation personnel are expected to travel to Ketchikan on Monday, Dunleavy said.

“In my 65 years in Ketchikan, I have never seen a slide of this magnitude,” Kiffer said in the statement, adding that, “With the slides we have seen across the region, there is clearly a region-wide issue that we need to try to understand with the support of our state geologist. The loss of life that we have encountered is heartbreaking, and my heart goes out to those who lost their homes.”

All three people who were hurt were brought to a local hospital, the local officials’ statement said. One was treated and released and the other two were admitted. Their conditions weren’t immediately known.

Everyone in Ketchikan was accounted for, the statement pointed out.