Sen. Lisa Murkowski traveled to Wrangell this week to view the scene of the recent deadly landslide.
When Murkowski visited town on Wednesday, she had a meeting with the search-and-rescue team for a discussion on the community’s reaction to the Nov. 20 landslide, and the ways in which Wrangell will be secure going forward. She also had a meeting with the relatives who were among those five Keller families members who died by the slide as well as Christina Florschutz, the sole survivor who lost her husband Otto on the evening of the slide.
Murkowski stated that she was impressed by the dedication and professionalism of her Wrangell Search and Rescue team in their description of work together following the fatal November. 20 incident.
“It was quite inspiring hearing the voices of those who were in the field just hours after the slide, in the dark under very, very tense circumstances,” Murkowski said.
Murkowski was raised in Ketchikan and was raised in various Southeast Alaska towns, including Wrangell. She has said that she believes she calls Wrangell her home, and feels sadness in Wrangell. Wrangell community.
“It was just painful to look at the first glimpse of the scar at the top of that mountain” she went on to say. “It was like seeing an injury to the body, but to look at it and understand the devastating effect and loss.”
She added that even though the hunt might be completed however, Wrangell continues to confront issues such as stress together. She said it’s crucial for her to keep trying to keep in touch with people from Wrangell after having been through a lot.
“I am leaving Washington last night after a day of voting and I purposely said that I’m coming here, because I want the people in the community in this area to understand they’re not on their own,” Murkowski said.
She stated that people from Wrangell have a lot of resilience and used to working on their own, however the people in Wrangell are more resilient when they collaborate. She also said she’ll continue to work with the residents of Wrangell in the wake of their loss.
