One person was killed and three people were injured by a landslide that prompted a mandatory evacuation in the city of Ketchikan, authorities said.
Ketchikan Gateway Borough, a regional government body, said Monday that "one of its own," senior streets maintenance technician Sean Griffin, was killed.
He and a co-worker had been sent to clear stormwater drains when the landslide swept them away, the borough said in a statement. It was Griffin's scheduled day off, it said, but his "commitment to the community" led him to stay on duty, the statement said.
"Sean is remembered for his dedication, positive spirit, and unwavering devotion to his family, his friends, and to the community," the borough said.
City Mayor Dave Kiffer said earlier that the person who died was driving on an upper bypass next to the hillside when the landslide caught the vehicle. The other person who was in the vehicle remained stable at a hospital, he said.
Three people in total were taken to Ketchikan Medical Center after the landslide, which struck around 4 p.m. Sunday and damaged homes and infrastructure, the Ketchikan Gateway Borough and the city said in a joint statement Sunday.
All other people have been accounted for, according to the joint statement.
Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy declared an emergency for Ketchikan, while Kiffer and Borough Mayor Rodney Dial issued a separate emergency declaration.
“Friends, is with a heavy heart we relay that a landslide in the city has taken a life, caused several injuries, damaged homes and impacted our community,” Dial said in the statement.
Ketchikan is a narrow, long town with terraced streets nestled beneath a 3,000-foot mountain. In an interview, Kiffer described the landslide as having come "very close to cutting the community in half."
Kiffer also said that, despite what the geography might suggest, the city had not experienced a landslide of this magnitude before.
“I was stunned, because in my 65 years here, I've never seen anything of that scale," Kiffer said. "It's just not something that's part of our normal existence."
Multiple homes were affected and a mandatory evacuation was ordered for residents of Third Avenue and nearby streets, while a shelter was set up at Ketchikan High School, the borough and the city said.
Kiffer said that two miles of the Ketchikan community, a quarter of the town, was under threat of another slide. State geologists were investigating the slide's cause and would determine whether people could return to their homes.
The landslide came after an intense weekend storm broke a three-week dry spell. Kiffer noted that while the 3 to 6 inches of rain received was not unusual, it was unusual for such a storm to follow several weeks of dry weather.
Power was restored to some affected areas by 8:15 p.m. Sunday. Other areas will remain without power while the landslide is cleared and broken power poles are replaced, the borough and the city said.
Various local and state agencies responded to the landslide in the southeastern Alaska city about 297 miles south of Juneau, the state capital.
A specialist for the state Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management Response and federal Department of Transportation personnel are expected to travel to Ketchikan on Monday, Dunleavy said.
Kiffer said: "It's very frightening. I don't think any people in Ketchikan walk about their daily lives thinking that the mountain's going to come down. And now we have to."
