Three days after a deadly landslide struck Ketchikan, one of two main arteries through town remains closed. Authorities said the Third Avenue Bypass will likely remain that way for the foreseeable future.
Even after debris is cleared, Kacie Paxton with the Ketchikan Gateway Borough said that the closure is necessary to assess the stability of the road and surrounding area. She said it’s too early to offer a concrete timeline, but it could be months.
“There are several teams in town right now doing assessments, doing soil sampling, looking at the weather, looking at the topography there,” Paxton said. “They’ve got drones, they’ve got helicopters and assessing, really the whole area.”
Paxton says experts are cautiously monitoring the area around the slide zone with rain picking back up again Wednesday. But many evacuees have been allowed to return home. 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.
The closure of the Third Avenue Bypass has led to congestion along Tongass Avenue, Ketchikan’s other main thoroughfare. Paxton said the city and borough are urging residents to limit their driving to essential travel to keep it clear for emergency vehicles.
“If you need to go to the grocery store, go to the grocery store. If you need to go to work, go to work. If you need to go to school, go to school,” she said. “But if normally you take, you know, three trips through town each day to run errands, consider consolidating those into one trip.”
Meanwhile, tour buses have continued to shuttle tourists around town. Paxton said cruise lines were made aware of the landslide situation and that some tours have been canceled as a result. Thursday is scheduled to be among the busiest cruise passenger days of the season, and Paxton said she’s concerned how that might affect the roads.
Ketchikan High School remains open as an emergency shelter, delaying the start of the school year by at least a week. But district officials announced Wednesday that they’re expecting to welcome students back to school on Tuesday, following the Labor Day holiday. The emergency operations center will transition to the National Guard Armory on Friday.
City of Ketchikan facilities remain open except for the Ketchikan Public Library, which will be closed on Thursday. Borough services are available by phone and online, but borough offices remain closed to the public.
Authorities are asking residents to try to avoid spreading rumors and only share information from official sources. The borough has set up a page online for landslide resources.
