‘Everybody is pretty darn helpful’: Boat operators rescue about 20 people after deadly Alaska landslide

By Sarah Dewberry, CNN

(CNN) — After a Monday landslide that authorities say killed at least three people near a remote community in southeast Alaska, a group rescued about 20 people from the affected area, a resident involved in the effort said.

Search efforts for three people who remain missing have finished for the evening, and a search strategy will be announced Thursday, the Alaska Department of Public Safety said in a Wednesday news release.

The landslide was reported around 9 p.m. local time Monday on the Zimovia Highway near Wrangell and walloped three homes in its path, the Alaska Department of Public Safety said. The state’s transportation department said the path grew to an estimated 450 feet wide and had a significant debris field.

A girl was found dead during initial search and rescue efforts Monday night, and the remains of two adults were recovered after they were located by a drone operator Tuesday, according to the department of public safety.

Nearby resident Eric Yancey said the lights at his house in Wrangell flickered within the hour before the landslide occurred. But that’s common during storms, so he wasn’t alarmed, Yancey told CNN in a phone interview.

About an hour later, Yancey said he heard about the severity of the landslide. People began contacting his brother-in-law, Frankie, who owned a big, well-lit fishing boat, he said. Frankie wanted to provide some light on the beach to find anyone who was stranded, Yancey said.

Yancey wanted to help and used one of his boats, a 75-foot landing craft with a ramp for accessing the beach, he said. He went to the beach to provide better light and help people who were stranded.

After getting a hold of Frankie and one of his wife’s sons, they all rounded up a crew and headed out to see how they could assist.

“On our way out there, we began having radio communications with the volunteer fire department folks who were on site,” Yancey said. “What was suggested to me was to run to a person’s private dock and pick up some of the people that had abandoned their houses because of the situation.”

It took him about an hour to get there by boat, Yancey said.

Once he was there, he initially rescued eight people who were at the private dock before going back to rescue another group of people, including children, at the dock several hours later. Just as he was about to leave, four more people showed up, Yancey said.

Yancey said he didn’t dock until 3 a.m. By then, he had helped rescue about 19 people and a few dogs and brought them back to town.

“We are a small town on an island, so everybody is pretty darn helpful in whatever ways possible,” Yancey said.

Community bands together

The area has been wet in recent days, which is typical for this time of year. But it was particularly rainy Sunday and Monday, with more than 3 inches of rain falling around Wrangell in the 24 hours leading up to the landslide, said Andy Park, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Juneau.

Winds of 61 to 87 mph Monday evening may have been a factor in the landslides as well, Park told CNN.

The southeast Alaska region is already at risk for debris flows, said Barrett Salisbury, a geologist with the Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys. Heavy rainfall, rapid snowmelt or saturated soil only increase that risk, he said in a news conference.

The Wrangell community has come together after the landslide, as people with private boats have shuffled fuel and supplies to folks who need it, Yancey said.

Spenser Stavee, who now owns a company Yancey used to own, was running to the nearby town of Petersburg on Wednesday to get supplies such as food and fuel to the stricken community, Yancey said. The items will be donated to parks and recreation officials, who will then give the haul of supplies to people in need.

“We are going over there with boats to grab and bring it back,” Stavee said.

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