No injuries were reported from a landslide in Ketchikan on Sunday night, Oct. 6. Officials reported the slide occurred at about 8 p.m. on a section of Revilla Road near Ward Cove, north of downtown.
The landslide began hundreds of feet up the mountain north of the road and brought tons of mud and trees crashing across a stretch of the road past the Ward Lake exit, according to borough officials.
Slide debris blocked all lanes of Revilla Road near the slide area, cutting off a half-dozen vehicles.
There were eight people in the vehicles, according to reports from officials. By Monday morning, officials said several people had walked out over the debris field and a family of four remained in their vehicle, according to the borough.
All six vehicles had been moved to a nearby paintball field, waiting for the road to reopen, officials said.
The Alaska State Department of Transportation on Monday morning was waiting for a Juneau-based geologist to arrive and assess the slide before debris removal could begin to reopen the road, according to the Daily News reporting.
Crews from the North Tongass Fire Department as well as medics responded Sunday evening and communicated with the stranded people by phone to ensure they were OK, officials said.
Ketchikan was hit with heavy rains and strong, gusty winds on Sunday, forcing the diversion of an evening Alaska Airlines flight.
The small slide occurred about six weeks after a major landslide tore a scar near the center of the city, killing one person and injuring three others. Several homes were damaged.
The Third Avenue Bypass, which was blocked by the Aug. 25 landslide, reopened to vehicle and pedestrian traffic on Oct. 1, the Ketchikan Daily News reported. The slide flowed across Third Avenue above town as it moved down the hillside.
Crews of contractors operating excavators and dump trucks removed tons of mud, trees and other debris from the bypass, which did not sustain major damages from the slide.
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