KRBD - Ketchikan

Teams of scientists, engineers, and meteorologists continued their work Tuesday assessing the steep hillside in Ketchikan following Sunday’s fatal landslide.

Kacie Paxton with the Ketchikan Gateway Borough said local and state geologists with the Department of Transportation are surveying the mountainside with drones.

Paxton said they are looking at the site of the large landslide over Third Avenue. They are also flying over a secondary slide on Copper Ridge Lane.

“They’re also looking at the area in between those two on the south end of Third Avenue up on the ridge, an area of potential concern. They want to determine the risk of that area,” Paxton said.

To give the geologists and their drones room to work, the Federal Aviation Administration is continuing to restrict flights over the slide area through the beginning of next week. Alaska Airlines flights in and out of Ketchikan will not be affected.

To further assess the risk of another slide, the City of Ketchikan and the borough also have a team of meteorologists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on-site. Paxton said they are conducting soil testing and monitoring incoming rain levels. There has been a period of clear weather since the storm that brought the initial slide, but Paxton said rain expected Wednesday could prolong evacuation orders.

The team of state geologists confirmed Tuesday evening that there were no immediate threats for further slides adjacent to the Third Avenue landslide.

Borough and city officials will be holding an info session for the community about landslide response, recovery, and prevention with experts and geologists from the state Department of Transportation, Emergency Operations Center, the Department of Natural Resources, and NOAA. The session will be at 6 p.m. Wednesday online. Questions for the panel can be submitted here.

Residents along First Avenue, West Third Avenue, Austin Street, and Second Avenue south of Whitecliff Avenue were allowed to return to their homes by Tuesday evening, but other areas along Second Avenue from the 2100 block to Whitecliff Avenue remain off-limits. Crews from Juneau’s Capital City Fire and Rescue were also onsite assessing the structures impacted by the slide. They confirmed four homes were a total loss with additional damage to several others. Paxton said cleanup efforts have begun.

“They’re beginning the debris removal systematically, and so we have communicated to homeowners in that Second Avenue area around Whitecliff that there would be no access for a short period of time while they do that work, just in case there are any effects of the work that they’re doing there,” said Paxton.

Borough officials said that once Third Avenue is cleared, engineers will need to reevaluate and address structural damage to the bypass. Paxton said that because of the magnitude of the slide and the work required to assess its stability, Third Avenue is expected to be closed for an extended period.

In the meantime, authorities are still asking drivers to limit trips on Tongass Avenue between First Avenue and Washington Street. They also request avoiding Copper Ridge Lane, the site of the secondary slide, so cleanup and assessment efforts can begin there.

Paxton said crews are working to rebuild the area’s electric grid. The landslide tore down power poles and left downed livewires in its wake. Power has been restored to some areas, but an estimated 60 households in the slide zone still don’t have electricity.

The City and Borough are asking evacuees who need to enter their homes to notify the Ketchikan Emergency Operations Center at 907-228-2383 before returning to the area.

The emergency shelter at Ketchikan High School remains open and is staffed with medical personnel and fully stocked with food, bedding, and other necessities. Authorities said there is plenty of space available.

The shelter is looking for people who can help provide hot meals to feed 25-30 people. If you are able to help feed the families sheltered at Kayhi, call 907-225-9815.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy declared a disaster for the landslide area Sunday night. The governor was in Ketchikan Tuesday meeting with local officials. He was also present at the processional Tuesday afternoon for the body of Sean Griffin, the man who lost his life in the slide. Griffin was a 17-year veteran of the city’s public works department who was part of a two-person crew clearing storm drains in the area when they were caught in the slide.

The governor’s disaster declaration means people affected by the landslide may be eligible for assistance through the Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management website. The state’s assistance program provides grants to repair homes, replace essential items, address medical needs, and provide temporary housing, among other things. Registration is also available by phone at 844-445-7131. The deadline to apply is October 27.

Text alerts are available through Nixle by texting 99901 to 888-777.

The Alaska National Guard is being deployed to Ketchikan next week to assist with further cleanup.

School remains canceled for all Ketchikan schools through Wednesday.

Marty Gillet was in his home in Ketchikan’s White Cliff neighborhood on Sunday when he said he heard something that sounded like a freight train.

“I heard this weird, screechy rumbling,” he said over the sirens and rain.

The landslide came down over the Third Avenue bypass and across First and Second avenues, demolishing multiple houses and dragging a couple others with it.

One person was killed in the landslide, Sean Griffin, a senior maintenance technician with the city of Ketchikan who was clearing storm drains in the area when the landslide struck. Three other people were injured.

Gilet said at first he thought there had been an earthquake. Then he saw the damage.

“Did you see all the poles down on Second Avenue? I could see them broken in half, hanging by the wires,” he said.

One of his neighbors rushed over to him.

“I was trying to call you to make sure you guys are okay!” she said

“I’m not in the house. I immediately got my raingear on,” Gillet responded. “I’ve been out here the whole time.”

Response crews worked to get people out of the houses caught in the immediate slide, stepping over downed power lines and debris. One first responder came out carrying a girl who was barefoot and injured.

Other crews cut power to the area and cleared the downed power lines so rescue efforts could continue safely.

Along the slide zone, people stood in the rain, trying to make sure their loved ones were okay.

“My John wasn’t answering. He’s on Third. You be careful, huh?” One woman said as she passed.

Response crews went door to door on Sunday, telling residents in the vicinity that they needed to evacuate. Many of them rushed out of their houses with suitcases. Up to 65 households were in the evacuation zone.

Across town, Ketchikan High School was preparing to take in the evacuees. Principal Rick Dormer was setting up tables. He said that within hours, members of the community showed up with supplies.

“These are community members or staff that have showed up with blankets, clothes, food and coffee,” Dormer said. “It’s less organized than you’d like but you can’t organize or plan for something like this.”

Twelve people stayed overnight at the shelter.

Jennifer Bergen was coordinating efforts for evacuees and said the donations kept coming.

“Lots of donations coming in. We have a little bit of everything,” she said.

The tables of the school solarium were covered in toiletries, feminine products and clothing. Bergen said many more people evacuated from the slide and were staying in nearby hotels. She was working with the Emergency Operations Center to get supplies to them as well.

“Families are getting what they need: lots of places to sleep, shower, laundry facilities, basic necessities. I think that whenever you have a disaster, you still have pretty shocked individuals kind of processing that. And we’re not even 24 hours out yet, people are coming to terms with some loss,” Bergen said.

By Monday morning, the rain let up. Local and state geologists were on the scene trying to test the stability of the collapsed hillside. They want to determine if the slide area, as well as the slopes on either side of it, are at risk of further slides.

Ketchikan Mayor Dave Kiffer said many residents, including himself, were waking up to a new reality though. He said a slide like this has never happened before in Ketchikan.

“This is not something you see in Ketchikan,” he said. “It’s hard to wrap your mind around that. I mean, day in and day out, we drive past these hills and we look up at the trees and the mountains and how lovely it is, and you just don’t think, ‘Well, that’s gonna come roaring down on you.’ And now you have to.”

He said the state started developing a program to assess landslide risk in Southeast communities after the other deadly landslides in Haines, Wrangell and Sitka in recent years. But after Sunday, and with the alarming frequency of fatal landslides, that process needs to be expedited, he said.

“Whatever the pace that is,” he said, “it’s got to pick up now.”

Update, 9:47 p.m.

Emergency crews responded to a large landslide that killed one person and destroyed several houses in Ketchikan on Sunday. The slide came down at roughly 4 p.m. above the Third Avenue Bypass in the White Cliff neighborhood.

Borough officials say two people were admitted to the hospital, but the extent of their injuries is unclear. They say all individuals have been accounted for.

A mandatory evacuation order has been issued for residents on Third Avenue, Second Avenue, First Avenue and White Cliff Avenue between Austin and Nadeau Streets. Ketchikan High School is set up as an emergency shelter with water, food and blankets. The Saxman Community Center has been identified as a second emergency shelter site.

The slide blocked the Third Avenue Bypass, as well as other roads in the area. Crews cleared downed power lines that were interfering with rescue efforts. The Borough has confirmed that power has been restored to nearby homes, but power on First and Second Avenues in the slide zone will likely be down for an extended period of time. Authorities have advised avoiding the area until further notice.

Ketchikan experienced heavy rains on Saturday night and Sunday leading up to the slide. The rain is expected to continue through Monday morning.

At roughly 8 p.m., Gov. Mike Dunleavy issued a disaster declaration for the landslide. The Borough and City of Ketchikan issued a joint emergency declaration soon after.

“All state agencies are directed to provide whatever assistance is needed,” he wrote on social media. “My thoughts and prayers are with the residents of Ketchikan tonight.”

Ketchikan mayor Dave Kiffer said in a press release that he had never seen a slide of this magnitude in Ketchikan.

Ketchikan Gateway Borough announced at roughly 7 p.m. that a secondary area just south of the original slide has been identified as posing a landslide risk. They say response crews are monitoring it. As of 10 p.m., the Borough says the area remains a concern.

Ketchikan Gateway Borough School District Superintendent announced that the first day of school for returning students on Monday has been canceled for all Ketchikan schools in order to keep the roads clear for emergency vehicles.

This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates. 

The three members of Alaska’s Congressional delegation are calling for action from President Joe Biden on transboundary mining in British Columbia upstream of several Southeast Alaska rivers.

In a joint letter sent to the president last week, U.S. Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan and Rep. Mary Peltola expressed concern over the impacts mining projects in the Canadian province are having on U.S. communities and resources downstream.

The letter said that without federal recourse, Canadian mining activity could increasingly damage salmon runs in Alaska and the environment. The letter cc’d the Secretary of State, the head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and multiple members of the International Joint Commission, which oversees issues affecting waterways along the Canada–U.S. border.

The bipartisan delegation wrote that they have pushed three different presidents at this point for financial and environmental protections of the Taku, Stikine, and Unuk rivers in Southeast Alaska, each of which they said have been adversely affected by Canadian mining projects at their headwaters.

The Delegation is renewing the call for action after a recent infrastructure failure at a gold mine in the Yukon led to a landslide which leaked mine waste, including cyanide, into a nearby creek that is part of the transboundary Yukon River system. The Yukon government found in a water quality report that, in some areas, the cyanide levels were enough to wreak significant damage on aquatic life.

“The failure was caused by poor design and negligence,” the letter states. It said: “We are only now beginning to understand the true scale of the environmental impacts, and each update is more discouraging than the last.”

Murkowski, Peltola, and Sullivan said that they “recognize that the minerals that come from Canadian mines are a key part of U.S. and allied national security and an important part of resource development.” But they said sacrificing our environment for energy and national security isn’t a necessary trade-off.

And so, they are asking Biden to publicly demand that Canada clean up an abandoned mine in British Columbia that the delegation said has been polluting international waters for decades and that all stakeholders – meaning Alaska, British Columbia, the U.S., Canada, and Indigenous groups – establish a binding, enforceable international framework under the international commission to prevent disputes like this in the future.

A fire broke out on the decommissioned state ferry Malaspina in Ketchikan’s Ward Cove on Tuesday night, but was extinguished without injuries.

North Tongass Volunteer Fire Department Chief Jerry Kiffer said the fire aboard the vessel, which is being used as a bunkhouse for workers in Ward Cove, was reported at about 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. When firefighters arrived, there were no visible flames or smoke.

“We made contact with the owner of the vessel,” Kiffer said. “He indicated there was a fire on Deck 1 that had a storage area that had toiletries and cleaning supplies. It was located in an area that was fairly remote from the cabins, and was confined just to that particular room.”

Kiffer says the fire had been quickly contained by those aboard the Malaspina. When the fire was discovered by crew, they attempted to put it out with hand-held fire extinguishers but were unsuccessful. They then used a hose from one of the Malaspina’s fire stations to tamp down the fire.

“Our crew came in and finished extinguishment, completed overhaul and ventilated the ship,” he said.

Kiffer said there was smoke in the aft part of the ship. Although nobody was hurt, several people onboard were evaluated just to be safe.

Kiffer commended those aboard for their quick response when fire alarms sounded.

“Because the crew was onboard, because the crew acted quickly, they were able to knock that fire down to a point where it was safe for our crew to make entry onto the ship,” he said. “So kudos to them. They did a pretty decent job.”

Kiffer says fire department personnel wrapped up a little after 9:00 p.m. Tuesday night. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

The Ketchikan Gateway Borough announced Thursday that it was able to recover virtually all of the more than $625,000 that it was scammed out of two months ago.

Back in May, Borough Manager Ruben Duran informed the assembly that a “bad actor” had hacked a vendor’s email account and sent new payment instructions to the borough. The $625,155.84 payment was for work at the Dudley baseball field, according to Finance Director Charlanne Thomas.

The hacker’s account was soon frozen, after the receiving bank noticed multiple similar suspicious payments. Since then, borough staff haven’t been sure whether they could recoup any of the funds, or how much their fraud insurance would cover.

That was until Thursday morning, when Thomas said she got the good news.

“When we came in, we were notified that we received — all but $23 of the fraud was redeposited back into our account,” Thomas said.

She wasn’t sure what the $23.84 discrepancy was about, but was very thankful they were able to get the rest back. Thomas said the borough had promptly paid the original vendor for their work at the baseball field, and that luckily no finance transactions were held up due to the healthy balance in the borough’s general fund.

Thomas said borough officials are on especially high alert now because, within the last two weeks, they had another fraud attempt that again infiltrated an email thread with a known vendor.

“And they piggybacked on that email, and they forwarded this new banking information and requested that it be changed,” Thomas said. “I’m pretty paranoid at this point.”

She said before the scam in May, the finance department already had a policy of requiring banking information changes to be made over the phone, but this was a new vendor who followed up just hours after they set up the account.

“So many large businesses have multiple accounts for different things. I mean, I know that the borough does,” Thomas said. “So it wasn’t an unreasonable, out of the ordinary thing that we deal with. It was very sophisticated.”

Thomas said the department has made a number of security updates since May, some of which she didn’t want to share publicly, but all banking changes are now reviewed and discussed among supervisors. Going forward, she said the borough is protected from fraud attacks “to the best of our ability.”