Harbor Mountain and Blue Lake Road are closed to the public after at least one landslide happened over the weekend.
According to Annemarie LaPalme at the US Forest Service, one slide has been confirmed on Blue Lake Road. LaPalme said the road is not safely passable and will remain closed until further notice.
The Forest Service will assess Harbor Mountain Road on Tuesday (10-27-20) morning. As of right now they don’t know of any landslides on the road, but will keep the gates closed until it has been assessed.
A culvert washed out on Green Lake Road- while not a full-blown landslide, it did present some challenges for the city’s Electric Department and the Northern Southeast Regional Aquaculture Association. According to city staff, NSRAA staff accessed the hatchery by skiff on Monday, and the city can still access the Green Lake Dam, though the road remains closed to the public while crews work to remove the debris.
Sitka has been experiencing a downpour over the last couple of days that’s led to flooding in some areas. On Monday, the city issued a statement reminding Sitkans not to drive through standing water, to limit hiking activity, and secure boats.
The high rainfall has also caused increased turbidity in Blue Lake- that’s an increase in the ‘cloudiness of the water’ that makes it less safe to drink.
According to a city press release, the city switched to storage tanks late Monday afternoon to account for the high levels of turbidity in Sitka’s drinking water. City officials asked that Sitkans conserve water to reduce the drain on water storage. On Tuesday morning, Blue Lake’s water was deemed safe, and the notice to conserve water was lifted.
This story was updated at 11:37 AM on Tuesday (10-27-20) to reflect that the city’s water supply has reverted back to the primary source at Blue Lake.
