A landslide on a rain-soaked, heavily forested mountainside in a remote fishing village in southeastern Alaska has destroyed homes, killed three people and left three others missing.
The landslide, estimated to be 450 feet (137 meters) wide, occurred around 9 p.m.
Heavy rain and storms rolled into the area Monday near Wrangell, an island community of 2,000 people about 155 miles (250 kilometers) south of Juneau, the state capital.
wrangell landslide november 2023
Rescue workers found the girl’s body during the initial search, and the bodies of two adults were discovered by a drone operator late Tuesday.
Search crews used cadaver dogs and heat-sensing drones to search for two children and an adult missing after the disaster, while the Coast Guard and other vessels scoured water strewn with rocks, trees and mud.
Alaska State Police spokesman Austin McDaniel said a woman who was on the upper floor of the residence was rescued.
She was in good condition and received treatment.
One of the three homes damaged was vacant, McDaniel said.
The landslide left a trail of barren land from the top of the mountain to the sea.
Vast expanses of evergreen trees were torn from the ground, highways buried under debris and access and power cut off to about 75 homes.
Soldiers said large-scale search and rescue operations were initially impossible because the scene was unstable and dangerous.
State Department of Transportation geologists flew in from Juneau to conduct a preliminary assessment and opened some areas of the debris field for ground investigation.
4,444 soldiers warned of the risk of further landslides.
They called on people trapped on the other side of the slide, away from Wrangell, to evacuate by water taxi.