Over two dozen families were impacted by the Kramer Avenue landslide, many placed under evacuation and contending with flooding on their property. (Emily Kwong/KCAW photo)
The landslide that struck Sitka in August of last year was not the worst disaster to befall a community, but the impacts still echo. Kramer Avenue is less than three miles from downtown. And although only one home was wiped out, others sustained structural or water damage. Many were spared — almost by chance.
Pete and Margie Esquiro have lived on Sand Dollar Drive for twelve years. The morning of the landslide, the rain was relentless. Pete had gone over to a neighbor’s. They were worried their house would flood. Margie was at home alone.
Margie Esquiro: There was a knock on the door and someone yelling, “Mrs. Esquiro, Mrs. Esquiro! You have to leave! You have to leave!” So I quickly threw some clothes on. Tried to call Pete but I couldn’t. So I jumped in the car and went down to where he was. And as I was leaving, there were police in the neighborhood with loud speakers. They were next door. I took nothing and left for a week. There’s at least 25 or 30 families in that general area that were impacted, either with having to evacuate or dealing with the mud or dealing with flood or things like that. I think some people are more anxious than others. Just depending. I don’t have a suitcase packed, but I thought about it. Maybe I should have a little bag packed.
Pete Esquiro: When you live between the mountains and the ocean, you always run the risk. If the ocean doesn’t get you, maybe the mountains might get you. We all live in a risk situation and our home is right at the place on the hillside where the slide turned before it got to us.
Margie Esquiro: We were right directly in the path before it filled up a gully — for lack of a better word — and come onto the Kramer road and the berm and made a turn. So had it continued on straight, it could have impacted us directly.
KCAW: So when you realized that the berm was what diverted the landslide away from your part of the neighborhood, how did you process that? What did you say to each other?
Margie Esquiro: Just looked at each and thought about moving. (Laughs) We had a moment or two. But I guess…I guess we’ll wait and see. We’ll wait and see what happens.
The area, known locally as the “Benchlands,” was under development when the landslide occurred. The city sold 20 acres to Sound Development LLC in 2013. (Mike Hicks/KCAW photo)
Ariel Starbuck lives on Halibut Point Road with her husband and two children, Cedar and Rosalie. They were 4 and 3 years old, respectively, when the landslide occurred.
Starbuck: The landslide happened on Tuesday (08-18-15). I had just finished gathering all the documents for the closing on our house on Thursday (08-13-15). The day of the landslide, I was standing at the window. I called my husband and said, ‘There is a river coming down the road next to us – Whale Watch Drive was like a 3 inch, 4 inch deep river. And then the next thing we knew the Animal Control Officer was evacuating us because all the police were up at the landslide.
Starbuck: The whole time we were waiting to find out what was happening. When can we go back? Can we buy this house? Will the bank allow it now? And in the end we went to the fire station and Al Stevens [Sitka’s former Assistant Fire Chief] took us back into Command Central, which was really impressive and he went over everything he knew with us. Showed us all the maps. We talked to a geologist that was there. We talked to someone from the Coast Guard who had flown over. We spent the weekend thinking about it.
KCAW: So that was the weekend after the landslide?
Starbuck: Mhmm. And we closed on Monday (08-24-15).
KCAW: What made you ultimately come down on the side of, ‘Yes, we’re going to buy?’
Starbuck: Ultimately, we decided that the land had already slid in that spot and that it wasn’t likely to slide again. And that we felt safe. Which is strange because we didn’t feel safe at the same time. But we felt like it was going to be safe.
In addition to demolishing the house under construction at 410 Kramer Avenue, the landslide destroyed the garage of 420 Kramer Avenue. (Emily Kwong/KCAW photo)
Starbuck: We walk up there and look at it and the kids have a lot of questions because they’re young. They’re 4 and 5, so they were 3 and 4 when the landslide happened. We try not to freak them out about it, but it was all the talk in town and they heard it everywhere they went.
KCAW: What kinds of things were they asking about?
Starbuck: They wanted to know, ‘Can we sleep here at night? Is our house going to move?’ I wanted to feel like I was telling them the truth. That we were totally safe. Like, ‘Yes, we’re going to sleep here. We’re totally safe.’ And I think I didn’t really feel like that. All of my neighbors have said this too. When the rains start coming really heavy and any sound that you hear, you’re just a little more jumpy. Because I was always feeling like, ‘If we see that same flow of water, then we’re going to go.’ That was just for the first month, because it did rain pretty hard after that. That first month. And then I felt a little more relaxed about that.
Starbuck: Our specific piece of property has three different levels. Three different colors. Like Neopolitan. It’s high risk, medium risk, low risk. We’re all kind of wondering what that’s going to mean for resale. We’re not planning on going anywhere for the next 10-15 years. We’ll be here.
KCAW: What do you hope for the area in the future?
Starbuck: My big hope would be that the city would take the extra rock from the dam and they would build a berm. I don’t know legal-wise if that’s even possible, but that would be my hope. Just to protect that land.
Click here to view a report on South Kramer Avenue from Shannon & Wilson.
Shannon & Wilson conducted a geotechnical survey, to map future risk for properties below Gavan Hill. Red represents high risk, yellow medium risk, and green low risk.
KCAW: One last thing. How has it changed you personally? The landslide?
Starbuck: I think something positive, if you can even look at it like that, was the generosity of Sitka and the way that people come together for things. I think it’s unusual. When my family comes up here, they comment on it all the time — how we have this sense of community that’s just amazing. And, really when you look at that…all those people who were up there looking for William [Stortz] and the Diaz brothers [Elmer and Ulises], volunteering their time. All the police and the fire department. We had so many people say, ‘Come and stay with us.’ We had people give us money. We had people walk into a restaurant and pay for our dinner like (snaps). It’s just…it was really overwhelming how kind people are and how this community pulls together. So while the landslide itself was a huge negative, terrible thing, you always look for the helpers to look for the positive light.
“While the landslide itself was a huge negative, terrible thing, you always look for the helpers to look for the positive light,” said property owner Ariel Starbuck. (Emily Kwong/KCAW photo)
