4 missing after landslides in Alaska

Emergency responders in Sitka are searching for four people missing after heavy rain caused landslides and at least one sinkhole to form Tuesday morning, Alaska Dispatch News reports.

The first 911 call about a landslide came it at 9:41 a.m. Tuesday, said Sitka Police Department Chief Sheldon Schmitt. Gov. Bill Walker said he will travel to Sitka Wednesday to survey the damage.

Emergency responders have said only that the missing people are believed to be workers at a residential construction site.

Four residents of a neighborhood in Sitka, Alaska are unaccounted for after heavy rain caused multiple landslides. Because of the instability of the site, a search had not yet started. The landslide came down the side of a mountain and hit newly constructed houses below.

She did not know if the people were together when the landslide occurred.

An office building just outside of town was evacuated late Tuesday morning because it is near one of the landslides. Forecasters expected the rain to taper by 12 p.m., which Schmitt said appeared to be happening.

Officials are responding the areas affected by landslide and flooding reports in the city.

Sitka, nearly 600 miles (965 kilometres ) southeast of Anchorage, is characterized by heavy rain throughout the year.