Four Missing After Several Landslides in Sitka, Alaska

Four people were unaccounted for Tuesday after a landslide struck a new-home development outside a city in the Alaska panhandle, authorities said. Officials are reportedly waiting to release the deceased’s name until family members are notified.

The Diaz brothers were working on a new home under construction when the landslide hit.

Zidek noted that the dogs have been “instrumental in the search”.

State emergency response spokesman Jeremy Zidek said Wednesday the plan is for crews in Sitka to stabilize the ground by using heavy equipment to clear a ditch to divert stream water washing over the debris.

The building inspector for the city of Sitka and two construction-worker brothers were believed to be buried under tons of logs and mud when the landslide crashed into the site Tuesday.

Stortz, a building official, was reportedly looking into the drainage system in the area, while the brothers were painting a home that was demolished in the slide.

She says that the missing men are presumed dead and the search will be one of body recovery – a determination based, in part, “from the force of the slide and that kind of impact”.

Sitka fire spokeswoman Sara Peterson claims a research hasn’t yet started due to the site’s uncertainty.

The National Weather Service recorded over 2-and-a-half inches of rainfall in the six-hour period between 4 and 10 AM.

Landslides in recent years have caused massive damage, he said.

But, he said, it wasn’t until he was standing at the edge of the Kramer Avenue landslide -where trees are stacked fifteen feet high and there’s a blank space on the hillside where a house used to be – that the scale of destruction came home to him.

“We don’t want to put additional people in harm’s way and compound the problem”, he said.

“He’s really laid back and carefree and so amusing”, said Way about Elmer while holding back tears.

Rain was expected to continue throughout the day and overnight, but Vaughan said the amounts with be “drastically less”.

Longtin outran the mud Tuesday; Stortz did not.

Gov. Bill Walker will be traveling to Sitka on Wednesday to assess the damage, said press secretary Katie Marquette.

This is cell phone video taken just moments after the slide…

The city has asked the state for an emergency declaration, and Walker said his office is expediting the request.

“And I think yesterday was, um, one of the hardest days of my life”.

Rescue crews hope to resume their search for the missing men on Thursday.