Alaska ’s governor declared a state of emergency following a deadly landslide in Ketchikan, ABC News reported.
The terrifying incident occurred at around 4:15 p.m. local time on August 25 in the city’s Gateway Borough. One person died in the landslide , while another three were injured. Two remain at the Ketchikan Medical Center, while another was treated and released.
“Friends, it 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,” the borough’s mayor, Rodney Dial, wrote in a statement posted to Facebook. “As we work through this, please keep the affected families in your prayers and know we will do everything we can to recover from this event as quickly as possible and help those in need.”
Ketchikan’s mayor, David Kiffer, said that he had “never seen a slide of this magnitude” before. “With the slides we have seen across the region, there is clearly a region-wide issue that we need to try to understand with the support of our state geologist,” Kiffer said. “The loss of life that we have encountered is heartbreaking, and my heart goes out to those who lost their homes.”