Notes from the Landslide

36
get back into her home, but she also wants to make sure it’s safe.
She’s been calling search authorities every three hours for news.
“My gut reaction is we’re going to be OK,” Starbuck said. “But I
would like to hear that from a geologist. ... I want to get a geologist’s
report, see what the stability is, and look at the drainage issue.”
She was supposed to close Thursday on the purchase of the house
she’s been renting, but the slide has given her pause and she wants
to make sure it’s safe. “I can’t buy a house I can’t live in,” she said.
The Kramer Avenue slide was one of six landslides around Sitka on
Tuesday. Another, at the Gary Paxton Industrial Park, closed Sawmill
Creek Road and heavy rains also caused a sinkhole the size of
a van in the 900 block of Halibut Point Road. No injuries have been
reported.
Initial reports were that four men were missing. Gorman said that
number was reduced to three after responders discovered that confusion
about one of the men’s names had led to the thought that a
fourth person was missing.
The National Weather Service is forecasting scattered showers
tonight with winds up to 15 miles per hour. A 50 percent chance
of rain is forecast for Thursday, and Friday is expected to be sunny
with rain beginning late Friday and early Saturday.
“We’re waiting for those two teams of people to tell us that it’s safe
to dig,” Miller said. “We have a limit. Friday it’s supposed to start
raining again so that could change everything.”