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Unstable ground slows Alaska recovery

Searchers continue to hunt for man missing in landslide

The Columbian
Published: August 20, 2015, 5:00pm

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Crews searching for the body of the last man believed buried by a landslide in a coastal Alaska town sifted log-by-log Thursday through a debris field, careful not to trigger any more movement of the mass of unstable, tree-tangled muck.

“They are picking up, basically, one log at a time, and looking all under and all over that one piece of material,” Sitka Deputy Fire Chief Al Stevens said. “It’s a slow, methodical process, and we have to be very careful.”

Two bodies have been recovered in or near a home that was under construction. Their identities were withheld.

Logs, mud and other debris have collected at the end of the slide area, and officials were considering whether to use large boulders to form a barrier to stop further movement.

The sun was out Thursday, but more heavy rain was forecast today and into the weekend, with Sitka expected to get 2 to 3 inches over several days.

“That could really complicate any efforts that we have going to remove the debris and conduct the search,” said Jeremy Zidek, a spokesman for the Alaska Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

Two adult brothers and a city building inspector were reported missing when six landslides caused by heavy rain swept over Sitka on Tuesday.

Two cadaver dogs helped lead rescuers to two of the bodies and were effective in pinpointing other areas of interest in the debris field, Stevens said.

He has requested that three more cadaver dogs be sent to the mountainous community of about 9,000 people 600 miles southeast of Anchorage.

The landslides came barreling down after 2½ inches of rain fell in a 24-hour period. The most devastating slide started at an elevation of 1,400 feet and slammed into a new house under construction about 1,000 feet lower.

Authorities believe the slide killed city building inspector William Stortz, 62, and brothers Elmer and Ulises Diaz, 26 and 25.

The Diaz brothers were painting a house that was caught in the landslide, and Stortz was inspecting a drainage system in the area, the governor’s office said.

The instability of the muck and ongoing wet weather hampered cleanup crews.

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