
Latest fatal landslide in Alaska kills 1 and injures 3 in Ketchikan, a popular cruise ship stop
CTV
A landslide cut a path down a steep, thickly forested hillside and crashed into several homes in Ketchikan, killing one person and injuring three in the latest such disaster to strike mountainous southeast Alaska.
A landslide cut a path down a steep, thickly forested hillside and crashed into several homes in Ketchikan, killing one person and injuring three in the latest such disaster to strike mountainous southeast Alaska.
The landslide Sunday afternoon prompted a mandatory evacuation of nearby homes in the city, a popular cruise ship stop along the famed Inside Passage in the Alaska panhandle. The slope remained unstable Monday, and authorities said that state and local geologists were arriving to assess the area for potential further slides.
Last November, six people -- including a family of five -- were killed when a landslide destroyed two homes in Wrangell, about 100 miles (161 kilometres) to the north. Torrential rains caused a landslide in December 2020 that killed two people in Haines.
"In my 65 years in Ketchikan, I have never seen a slide of this magnitude," Ketchikan Mayor Dave Kiffer said in a statement. "With the slides we have seen across the region, there is clearly a region-wide issue that we need to try to understand with the support of our State geologist."
He said the loss of life was "heartbreaking, and my heart goes out to those who lost their homes."
Ketchikan officials on Monday identified the victim as Sean Griffin, a 17-year veteran of the city’s public works team who was clearing stormwater drains with a co-worker when they were caught in the landslide.
“It was his commitment to the community that caused him to respond to the call for assistance during his scheduled time off,” a statement from Ketchikan Gateway Borough Clerk Kacie Paxon said.