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A massive landslide 11 miles from town destroyed three homes on Nov. 20 - including one that housed a five-member family - and stranded more than 70 residents who lived south of the slide. Timothy Heller, 44, Beth Heller, 36, Mara Heller, 16, and Kara Heller, 11, have been confirmed dead. Derek Heller, 12, and Otto Florschutz, 65, were missing as of Monday night, Nov. 27. Christina Florschutz, a teachers aide at Evergreen Elementary School, survived. The slide occurred shortly before 9 p.m. and...
Workers were able to clear out mud, trees and debris from the landslide zone to allow state and borough officials to reopen Zimovia Highway Tuesday morning for limited use. Initially, the two-lane road will be open for restricted hours: 8 to 8:30 a.m., 12 to 12:30 p.m. and 3:30 to 4 p.m., with the possibility of longer hours later in the week. Access will be limited to residents who live south of the slide. Only people with individual access permits will be allowed to drive past the slide area. Permits are available at City Hall. The highway...
Christina Florschutz, an aide at Evergreen Elementary School, survived the 11-Mile landslide that killed at least four people Nov. 20 - even after debris destroyed her home and trapped her overnight. The evening of the slide, Florschutz went upstairs to take a shower. After she got out, she heard "a horrible noise, a very loud noise." Before she could react, the landslide slammed into her house, tossing her "like a piece of weightless popcorn" around the room until she lost consciousness. When...
Heavy rains, high winds and the unique topography of the area likely caused the Nov. 20 landslide at 11-Mile. The type of landslide that hit Wrangell is called a "debris flow" - a "notably destructive" event that is common in the region, said state geologist Barrett Salisbury at a Nov. 21 press conference. They occur when soil becomes so saturated with water that individual pieces of soil are no longer touching each other, and lack the strength to hold themselves in place. Debris flows can reach...
People living near the landslide's path had a harrowing night Nov. 20, as homes were evacuated and first responders searched for people who were unaccounted for. Stan Guggenbickler was missing overnight after going for a drive on the evening of Nov. 20. He had baked a cake for his son's 18th birthday and wanted to let the cake cool before frosting it, so he headed up the road from his house at Panhandle Trailer Court to Middle Ridge cabin in his truck. After turning onto the road to Middle...
State officials have released the names of the four people killed and two others still missing from the Nov. 20 landslide that hit just past 11-Mile Zimovia Highway. As of Monday, Nov. 27, searchers had found the bodies of Timothy Heller, 44, his wife, Beth Heller, 36, and their daughters, Mara, 16, and Kara, 11. Mara was a high school junior and Kara was in fifth grade. Searchers found Mara's body the night of the slide, during the initial search operations by first responders able to reach the...
Counseling and behavioral health services are available as the community comes together to help those in need after the deadly landslide. SEARHC has been providing counseling at no cost, and a private practitioner in Haines also is offering free assistance. Former Wrangell resident and therapist Riley Hall, who is offering free counseling to community members, was living in Haines in 2020 when a landslide killed two people there. The rain continued after the slide, adding to people’s anxiety. “It was really difficult for people to feel saf...
Though disasters like the 11-Mile landslide are infrequent, they’re not unprecedented in Wrangell. In October 1979, a hillside at 1.4-Mile Zimovia Highway gave way, covering more than 20 acres with mud, trees and debris. The town had almost nine inches of rain in the first nine days of the month that year, including a record 24-hour rainfall of 4.49 inches on Oct. 9, the day of the slide. No one was seriously injured and the mudslide did not directly hit any residences. It followed the route of an apartment building driveway as it crossed Z...
Individuals and the borough are eligible for financial aid under the state’s disaster assistance programs. State grants to individuals are limited to no more than $21,250 for housing repairs and up to the same amount for other needs. That could include lost or damaged personal items such as clothing, furnishings and tools; energy costs; medical, transportation or temporary storage expenses. The grant limit is based on a federal standard, explained Jeremy Zidek, public information officer for the state Division of Homeland Security and E...
Several fundraisers have been started to provide aid to people affected by last week’s landslide. Tammi Meissner, Wrangell’s community navigator with the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida, said the Wrangell Strong Community Relief Group Facebook page that she and Jillian Privett set up to help coordinate relief efforts highlights various drives that are underway. Those include the 11-Mile Emergency Relief Fund, an account she opened at City Market and IGA, which will be used for food and paper products needed by those affected by the sli...
The community effort to bring in food and games, set up tables and chairs for a Thanksgiving meal at the community center was intended to help residents come together just days after the landslide tragedy. But it also provided solace for officials who came to Wrangell to help with recovery efforts. For Rhonda Butler, emergency operations specialist for the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, it was a homecoming. Butler, who is based in Juneau, grew up in Wrangell wi...
Volunteers have come together to help Wrangell, particularly from Petersburg. A crowd of volunteers, which included Parks and Recreation Director Lucy Robinson, Chris and Dixie Booker from C&D Deliveries and fourth-grade teacher Brian Merritt, gathered at the Reliance Dock on Nov. 22 to offload donated relief supplies delivered from Petersburg by Breakaway Adventures. The dozens of plastic totes were filled with food, water, blankets, clothing and other essentials - pet food, too. Written in...
A series of landslides hit Sitka more than eight years ago during heavy rain, with the largest striking a new subdivision and killing three workers. It prompted the community, led by the Sitka Sound Science Center, to set up a landslide warning system. The system includes rain gauges and soil-moisture sensors spread around town, with a website that advises people of the risk level of a landslide. It took about four years to develop the system — and a lot of federal grant money. “We started when we had our landslide. We started calling sci...
The strong storm system that hit Wrangell on Nov. 20 struck across Southeast Alaska, dumping snow in the north, rain in the south and heavy winds throughout. A landslide closed parts of North Tongass Highway in Ketchikan on Nov. 20 and Alaska Power & Telephone reported that several slides and snapped poles took out power on Prince of Wales Island, including at Hydaburg, Thorne Bay, the Klawock-Hollis Highway and between Craig and Klawock. A road was also washed out in Coffman Cove. The Klawock School District opened up its gym for people stuck...
First responders and volunteers working at the site of the deadly landslide have a Wi-Fi signal, thanks to a backpack satellite-link setup the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Tribes of Alaska sent to Wrangell. The council’s operations center keeps the Starlink setups in Juneau and Sitka for emergencies and community use, said Chris Cropley, director of the Tidal Network at Tlingit and Haida. The council sent two of its Starlink packs to Wrangell on Nov. 22, and the service was up and running at the landslide response site that same d...
The body of Otto Florschutz, 65, was recovered from the landslide area at 11-Mile Zimovia Highway shortly before 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 30, 10 days after he was declared missing in the slide. With help from scent-detection dogs, Wrangell Search and Rescue and other volunteers located and recovered the body from the landslide debris, according to an Alaska Department of Public Safety announcement on Friday, Dec. 1. Derek Heller, 12, is the only missing person who has still not been found from the slide that killed his parents and two sisters....
Borough staff presented their plan for selling the first 20 lots of the Alder Top Village (Keishangita.'aan) subdivision to the Economic Development Board and members of the public at a work session Nov. 16. The plan is to sell the first row of 10 lots - the ones with waterfront views - at a public auction and the second row of 10 using a lottery system. The auction is tentatively scheduled for May 2024 and the lottery for June 2024, with buyers receiving access to their land in September, thoug...
A nearly $90,000 state grant will help the borough reinvent the community’s address system so that first responders, internet providers and residents are on the same page — or in this case, the same street. At present, Wrangell’s homes and roadways reject the conventional wisdom of street naming. There are two First avenues, two Second avenues, two Third avenues and a Third Street in town. Grave Street turns left onto one of the Third avenues, which turns left onto Grave Street again. Some streets have never been named at all, and homes on Zi...
Alexandra Angerman of the Wrangell Cooperative Association is one of 16 young people who will serve on a nationwide committee advising the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on environmental issues. The National Environmental Youth Advisory Council (NEYAC) was created this year by EPA Administrator Michael Regan to provide "a critical perspective on how the impacts of climate change and other environmental harms affect youth communities," according to the EPA press office. Members are ages 16...
Tables and seats were organized for students and guests along the walls of the elementary school gym, with "Happy Friendsgiving 2023" coloring pages scattered on the tables, ready for crayons. The main serving area was in the center, with long tables placed end to end full of ham, meatballs, macaroni and cheese, deviled eggs, mashed potatoes, rolls, casseroles and other foods. As the time drew near for the second festive lunch of the day to begin, Angela Allen, who serves on the boards of the...
As the Nolan Center community theater production of “Cinderella” prepares for shows the weekend of Dec. 9 and 10, director Haley Reeves has been delighted with the performance of cast and crew since rehearsals first began. “We’re miles from where we started,” she said, adding that everyone participating in the production has exceeded her expectations. Reeves expressed excitement to revisit this well-known musical this time as director, instead of as a performer. “It’s been 10 to 15 years since I’d been involved with a production of ...
Residents may soon be allowed to build small apartments on their properties for family members or to use as rentals. The assembly gave its initial approval to an ordinance that would let residents add rental units to their properties at its Nov. 14 meeting. Before the new ordinance is officially approved, it must undergo a public hearing and be approved at a second reading before the assembly. The public hearing is scheduled for the Dec. 12 assembly meeting. These rentals — called “accessory dwelling units” — are not currently permiss...
A vacant floathouse moored behind the Marine Bar at the Inner Harbor keeled over Nov. 14, around noon. An old boat tied up nearby also partially sank. Both belonged to an elderly resident who died several weeks earlier. A private contractor has been hired to handle cleanup of the wreckage. Tori Peterson, who lives near the floathouse, witnessed it turning over. She said it had been tilting more and more to one side for sometime before going down at high tide. "It just rolled right over and fell...
Several store owners and managers are talking about the need to form a business association of some kind to work toward drawing more locals to shop downtown. Wrangell residents are spending an increasing amount of their dollars online, ordering from Amazon and other remote merchants. About 10% of the borough’s sales tax collections last year came from online shoppers — and the number is growing. Forming a downtown business association isn’t about competing with or abandoning the chamber of commerce, the store owners said. The chamber serve...
Borough officials successfully negotiated down the cost of the Mount Dewey trail extension with the project’s only bidder to keep the work within budget. The assembly approved the contract at its Nov. 14 meeting after staff and the contractor cut more than half a million dollars from the job. The contract is now about $25,000 below the original spending target. The plan to improve the Mount Dewey trail system has been in progress since a 2014 public forum, when community members told borough staff that they’d like to see the trail updated. The...