WRANGL — By November. 20th, rain was raining across Wrangell for several days. It got worse in the afternoon when Angie Flickinger drove to her home on the Zimovia Highway, a road which runs along the coastline across 14 miles from downtown.
About mile eight at which point she could see water pouring from the cliffs that abut the road. She sped through the road anxiously, concerned about the rock falls that occur in the area.
It’s a span style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”That kind of weather is always a source of plenty of stress,” Flickinger said. “There always appears to be a huge storm toward near the beginning of November when trees are blown down. There’s always destruction .”
In the evening when the rain that was pounding her roof was like white noise. Then, it changed abruptly.
The span style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”I experienced this incredibly high-pitched sound. It was as if it had been amplified by ten times,” Flickinger said. “My brain was saying”that’s not right.'”
The friend of Flickinger Jamie Roberts lives about a half mile further. For she, it sounded like a jet that was rumbling across the sky. She walked in to take a look at the sound, and it became more intense.
The span style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”I shouted at my husband and I said “Alaska Airlines. Something is wrong with your aircraft, it’s falling”” Roberts said.
She was ready in anticipation of the sound of a crash but the sound never came. Instead, the entire home began shaking.
“And we’ve just walked out of the house,” she said.
Just a few hundred yards further away Roberts neighbors Christina Florschutz was in the second floor of her home, right from the shower. She was aware of what the sound was. She’d heard of mudslides prior to.
” style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”Suddenly I’m like a piece of light popcorn tossed everywhere,” she said. “And the next thing I know — do not remember for a few minutes .”
The Landslide
In the evening, a flurry of heavy rain washed the already wet hillside at mile 11 on Zimovia Highway while 70 mph wind gusts smashed the trees. Then, certain areas of the slope had more soaked with water than soil. The earth eventually was able to be pushed away at around 8:45 p.m.
A viscous stream of mud roared towards the road, bringing hundreds of fallen trees. It lifted the Florschutz home and dragged it downhill until it hit the family’s workshop and broke into pieces. The slide crossed the road and buried the home where Beth as well as Timothy Heller lived with their three children. A portion of the debris made it to the water.
Beth along with Timothy Heller were later found dead, along with Their daughters Mara as well as Kara. Derek, their son Derek is still missing. Investigators found the remains of Otto Florschutz, Christina’s husband on the night of Nov. 30.
It was the most deadly land slide in the last few years of Alaska history. Around 70 people live outside of the zone of slide it blocked the road and shut off electricity for about one week. Many people who live in the hillside think about whether they should abandon their homes forever.
KTOO spoke to about a dozen people who were trapped in the area of slide on the night. They recounted hours of panic and confusion as people evacuated their homes and how the confusion eventually led to an emergency evacuation that neighbors helped one another to make it back.
“We were able to hear the cracking of the hillside”
When the slide fell, Roberts ran to the beach with her husband and son. Roberts could clearly see the outline of a large pile of debris that was just up the coast. She could smell it.
The span style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”Like Christmas wreaths” Roberts said. “It was intense, like scent of conifer.” .”
Roberts was close to the Florschutzes as well as the Hellers. They had shared holidays and Roberts was a coach for the younger Heller children in swimming. As she could see the slide had gone through their homes.
She was shocked and didn’t know where to go. Her family was standing in the rain, wearing only the clothes they fled in. Her husband was not wearing shoes. The rain was soaking their sweatshirts But they were scared to leave the house.
The span style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”We could hear the cracking sound of the hillside,” Roberts said. “So we thought it would be best to remain in this location and remain still and still, we’ll be aware of the direction to take when more rain starts pouring down the hill. .”
Angie Flickinger, Roberts’ neighbor to the south, was unaware of what had transpired. The power was out however, she was living in her home.
She went outside to look she thought a little slide might have fallen near by. This had happened two years ago, in the November storm, which shattered utility poles and fell hundreds of trees.
It was difficult to see anything using her headlamp. The roaring had stopped but the two streams which flowed through her land were still raging while the winds were swaying the trees.
She tried to contact people who may have more information however she was unable to connect with anyone. She was thinking she could take a nap, but while she put her pajamas on at 9:45 p.m. The phone came in.
span style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”It was a good friend that was visiting Town,” Flickinger said. “And she informed me that there was an enormous slide. It was like an enormous slide .”
Then the eye of Flickinger was swung through the window. A white boat with bright white lights was speeding along the coast.
A dangerous search
Rescue teams and searchers rushed in shortly at 9 p.m. by way of the north-facing slope shortly thereafter via a boat. In the pitch-black the night, they conducted a quick search and retrieved bodies of family’s teenage daughter Mara.
However, the mud was a deep and soft. Rescuers who attempted to climb the mud sank to their chests. As with the Roberts family they could hear the unstable hillside shift in the darkness. Soon, they had called off the search for night.
Nearly a millimeter away Charlie as well as Mel Hazel were able to see the search boats too. They are a retired couple and reside near mile 12.7 in their home that they constructed over a decade ago.
“Great big, huge sodium lights. And they were right here, sort of circling about in circles.” Hazel said, and pointing towards the water to the north from his home.
They gazed at the lights through the windows in their dark living room. Then, some of the lights began moving toward them.
“span style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”That boat sank here and ended up on the dock I have,” Hazel said. “Then the search and rescue crew landed away .”
They informed their friends the Hazels about the land slide. Charlie Hazel gave them the keys to his pickup truck and they drove off on the road.
When he returned to town Eric Yancey was firing his personal ferry that he named known as the Rainforest Islander. He was aware of the slide from his brother-in law who had taken his fishing boat to aid in the way for rescue. Yancey was unsure of where he was headed or how his ferry could be used, but simply wanted to contribute in some way.
“I didn’t realize how I had been doing it”
Flickinger — as well as numerous others weren’t sure of how to proceed or how to get there.
“span style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”I did not really understand the extent of the issue,” Flickinger said. “I did not know what I did.”
Cell reception far out of town is never reliable and the slide destroyed landlines and the internet, along with electricity.
At 9:36 at night, the city had issued a message message and an email alert stating that there was a landslide between miles 10 and 12the city also sent out a number of additional updates throughout the night. However, it’s likely that the majority of people did not receive the alerts. According to Wrangell’s temporary borough administrator, just 10% of residents have subscribed to this city’s alert system for emergencies.
On the other side of the road the houses are scattered, and many of them have long driveways with large and wooded yards. In the darkness it took a long time for the firefighters to distribute the evacuation notice.
While others walked through the streets in vehicles and on feet. Some went to the slide, armed with handheld shovels, flashlights. Some tried climbing over it, but they quickly retreated when they realized the amount of debris that was extending.
Some returned to their homes, packed their bags, and waited. Others listened to more slides, ready for an escape.
Flickinger began walking towards the slide as well, but her neighbors along the road pulled her back. They advised her to go to the bus stop for school — a flat area close to the top of the mountain, where a lot of people were already congregated.
However, Flickinger was concerned regarding her neighbor. She was aware that the slide had fallen close to the Roberts the house, but she had not heard from them since. She also imagined a family of children just down the road. She rang their door but they did not answer.
As if she was overreacting, she began to return to her home. Then a large truck of firefighters stopped her. They advised she to leave the area and proceed towards the dock of Charlie Hazel.
For Flickinger this is the moment when fear really sets in.
The span style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”So I changed my mind and went back to the house of my friend,” she said. “I shouted as I flashed my headlamp through every window and door until they woke up. .”
The Roberts family finally walked out from the beach. They headed towards a few traffic lights, which led them to firefighters who directed them to the house of Hazel. They rushed into the house to get some shoes, jumped in their cars, and walked out.
“We had all grieving”
At that point, Yancey the captain of the ferry was also informed to visit Hazel’s dock. In the rain and wind the journey took longer than normal. Charlie Hazel described “flat rain” and 35-mph storms crashing his house as increasing numbers of people showed on the road.
span style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”Everything became quite crowded with cars parked, and some other thing. Children and wives were unloading, as well as dogs, and dog kennels.” Hazel said.
More than a half dozen people had gathered at the fire place of Hazel. In a state of confusion about what to think of, Charlie and Mel did their best to feed the crowd.
When Flickinger arrived the ferry, which was 75 feet long, was waiting, held to the dock with wind. She got on waiting in a warm cabin. Roberts discovered her in the cabin.
span style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”Jamie and her family came up after I had done,” Flickinger said. “And I gave her a big hug and then cried across her shoulder.”
While on the ferry Flickinger and the Roberts as well as a handful of other families attempted to figure out what had happened by snatching snippets from chatter about search and rescue on the radio of the boat.
span style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”We were told that a few neighbors were affected. It’s likely that it wasn’t a good thing,” Flickinger said. “I believe we were all grieving by that time .”
For three hours, they waited for three hours, exhausted and on the edge floating by the dock in the chilly weather. At the time they left for the town, 19 people were aboard. They arrived at Wrangell around 4 a.m.
“span style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”There was lots of people at the dock as we arrived loved ones,” Yancey said. “A lots of hugging .”
Yancey the 21-year veteran, who is a veteran of the military, spent a lot of the night thinking about the work at being completed. In his home sitting in front of the TV, he began to work through.
The span style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”Small town,” Yancey said. “You’re probably familiar with or have a connection to quite well the people who were involved. .”
Robert’s cell phone was inundated with messages from concerned family members as well as from friends and relatives from the Hellers and the Florschutzes.
The span style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”My message was that I’ve not seen them in a long time,” Roberts said. “The slide was right along the same path as where they are now. It would be a wonder for people to escape the slide.”
“They arrived and took me”
Somehow, Christina Florschutz did. She woke up under the roof of her house that was destroyed and was warm by putting on bits of polar fleece found in an assortment of sewing tools.
span style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”I was being soaked, it was extremely windy.” Florschutz said. “And I was telling myself, you’ll be able to breathe. It’s easy to see trees. There’s no way to be buried. You should be near the highest point on the stack .”
In the morning she got out and began to make her way through the debris field.
The span style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”And I can see people wearing hats through the trees and baseball caps” Florschutz said. “And I heard them shout that they were coming, and grabbed me .”
Florschutz claims she’ll search for a new house in Wrangell or somewhere else on plain land.
Roberts is looking for a new home too. In the midst of the hill is her tiny A-frame residence is close to two slides that are massive fresh gash towards the north as well as the more subtle scars left by an older slide that ended just from her home.
Now she’s unable to stay in her home for longer than a couple of minutes.
span style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”We’ve been the owners of our house for quite some time. It wasn’t on our agenda to move or build a new home and neither could we,” Roberts said. “But I just keep being like, I’m alive. and I’m blessed with my loved ones. The rest, we’ll be able to figure it all out.”
The KSTK’s Colette Czarnecki as well as Wrangell Sentinel’s Caroleine James contributed reporting.
