Six people missing after Alaska landslide

Six people are missing in Alaska after a major landslide following heavy rains, officials said.

Nine feet of mud and trees blanketed the area after the major landslide, which occurred sometime before 1:50 p.m. Wednesday in Haines, state soldiers said in a statement. At least four homes have been destroyed in the community of about 2,000 people in Southeast Alaska.

There had been smaller landslides, but the largest occurred on Wednesday afternoon, Haines Mayor Douglas Olerud told NBC affiliate KTUU of Anchorage.

“We had significant precipitation on frozen ground and snow,” he said.

Search and rescue operations have been suspended for the evening due to unstable ground, state soldiers said, but more help is expected to arrive on Thursday.

The Coast Guard, along with mountain rescue personnel and medics from Juneau arrived or would arrive on Thursday, officials said.

More than 9 inches of rain fell at Haines Airport in 36 hours, National Weather Service meteorologist Gregg Spann said Wednesday evening, and another inch or inch and a half is expected before the storm is over.

A flash flood watch was in place for the Haines area until Thursday morning.

“Southeast Alaska is used to seeing a lot of rain,” Spann said, but “it’s an exceptional amount”.

Woody Pahl, a fisherman, told public media in Alaska he was near the harbor when a landslide hit what he believed to be three homes.

“And I look over it, and all the water comes out, all the boats are coming back down to the harbor. And the side of the hill slips and sends all the trees and everything, the houses, into the bay across from town, “he said.

Haines is on the Panhandle of Alaska, south of Skagway and approximately 120 kilometers north of Juneau.