JUNEAU, Alaska — Four of the six people feared missing after a landslide slammed into a neighborhood in a small Alaska town have been found safe, Alaska State Troopers said Thursday.
Troopers confirm that two people remain missing after the slide about 600 feet (183 meters) wide came down a mountain in Haines on Wednesday after heavy rains inundated much of southeast Alaska. Numerous other, smaller slides were also reported.
At least four homes have been destroyed and numerous others damaged in Haines.
Details on how the four people were found were not immediately available.
Troopers said rescue crews from Juneau traveled about 100 miles north to Haines on Thursday morning, and others will be arriving throughout the day.
Geologists from the Alaska Department of Natural Resources were also traveling to Haines to help ascertain the risk of searching in the mudslide, troopers said.
The search for the missing was suspended Wednesday evening as rains continued to batter the area meaning the soil wasn’t stable enough, Haines Borough Mayor Douglas Olerud told The Associated Press. The borough has about 2,500 residents.
Jeremy Zidek, a spokesman for the Alaska Division of Emergency Management and Homeland Security, said 12 of the 30 communities they contacted in southeast Alaska reported some type of damage from the storm, ranging from dangerous mudslides to flooded basements.
Those unaccounted for were in the Beach Road area, where the largest slide came down Wednesday afternoon, Olerud said. About 9 feet (2.7 meters) of mud and trees cover the area, according to troopers.
About 30 people were evacuated, and emergency response crews rescued others, Olerud said. He did not have a total figure. The Salvation Army and the Red Cross were assisting those in need.
Rebecca Kameika lives on Beach Road, though closer to Haines than where the slide hit. She said slides and related road damage had left some neighborhoods inaccessible.
She and her boyfriend were staying at his place of work; they were fine and expected their home to be, too, but evacuated as a precaution, she said.
The incident is devastating for the community, said Kameika, who set up a fundraising account and plans to work with another group to make sure the money is distributed fairly and where it’s needed.
Haines resident Luke Williams said the community is coming together. This rainstorm has been the “worst I have ever seen,” he said, adding he’s lived in the area throughout his 39 years.
“That’s the one thing special about this small town. Everyone comes together no matter how mad one person is at another. In the end if there is an emergency we all come together to help each other,” he said.
Besides assistance from the Alaska National Guard and a mountain rescue group in Juneau, the Coast Guard was deploying resources from several other southeast Alaska ports to assist.
Olerud said the situation was moving so quickly Wednesday evening he couldn’t provide a list of additional resources they may need.
“Prayers help. We can always take prayers. Those always work. We need a lot of those right now,” Olerud told the AP.
