UPDATE, December 3, 2020, 12:45 p.m.: Four of the six people originally reported as missing following the massive slide in Haines have been found alive and well. The two who remain missing have been identified as Jenae Larson and David Simmons.
ORIGINAL REPORT:
Alaska State Troopers and the Haines Volunteer Fire Department evacuated residents by boat Wednesday afternoon (12-2-20) after a large landslide crashed through a stretch of homes. Searchers are looking for six people who may be trapped in the debris, the fire department said.
Record-breaking rainfall triggered the large landslide, and smaller ones, in the Southeast Alaska community. Residents reported widespread damage, including flooding, across town. At least one house was seriously damaged after the big slide rumbled down Battery Hill, troopers said.
Local fisherman Woody Pahl was plugging in his boat on a trailer near the harbor when a landslide hit some houses, he guessed about three of them, around 2 p.m.
“All of a sudden, there was a tidal wave that took off from the beach going outwards, and I knew something big had just happened,” he said.
“And I look over, and all the water’s going out, all the boats are going back down in the harbor. And the hillside is just sliding and sending all the trees and everything, the houses, out into the bay in front of town.”
Resident Mike Ward said he first heard what sounded like a big “woosh.”
“We looked up and the mountainside’s coming down and we just ripped out there,” he said.
Ward said he immediately raced up to Beach Road, where the slide happened, from the Quick Shop. Police asked him not to pass.
“We were yelling and looking, see if we could help,” he said.
He estimated a half mile of the mountain crashed down into the Lynn Canal.
“There’s all sorts of household stuff — foam and buckets and colored stuff — out in the water,” he said. “Eerie feeling.”
Locals took out boats to help.
The Salvation Army is working to get displaced people into hotels. Rescuers are requesting that now that it’s dark, evacuees should shine lights to signal that they need to be picked up from the beach or wherever they are, said Britt Tonnessen with the Salvation Army. People needing evacuation or other help may also call: 907-268-6015.
Before the slide, Haines residents woke up Wednesday morning to lots of destruction caused by a rare winter storm.
The borough declared a weather emergency as heavy rains flooded buildings, washed out roads throughout town and caused smaller landslides that took out several homes.
Schools and the clinic were closed. Roadway damage blocked access to the airport and the dock. The National Weather Service recorded more than 8 inches of rain at the Haines Airport overnight, and it was still raining Wednesday afternoon.
The agency says this kind of storm only happens once every 25 years.
