Heavy rainfall triggered another small landslide in Ketchikan on Sunday. There were no injuries and no structures were damaged in the washout.
The slide came down on a stretch of private property along Hillside Road above the Alaskan & Proud grocery store. City Public Works officials said that the large section of trees and mud nearly 100 feet across slid roughly 200 feet into Carlanna Creek.
Ketchikan experienced nearly 10 inches of rain over the 36 hours leading up to the slide, according to the National Weather Service in Juneau.
Fire Chief Rick Hines said that local officials and a city engineer used drones to evaluate the stability of the surrounding slope on Tuesday. They observed an additional tension crack in the hillside near the slide and “visible movement of plants and objects along the edge that had occurred since the previous day.”
State geologist Mort Larsen flew into Ketchikan Wednesday to determine the condition of the debris field and the creek below. City officials said they are determining next steps to prevent more hazardous debris from falling into Carlanna Creek.
Hines said residents should avoid the immediate area of the slide and that it is on private property.
Ketchikan has seen an increase in landslides in the last year including a major landslide in late August, which destroyed multiple homes and killed a city worker. There was a smaller slide on that same day, and since then there has been at least one other slide that stranded drivers north of town.
