Three persons who were missing following the landslide on Monday in Wrangell is more of a reactive than an active search, Alaska State Troopers said Thursday. This means that efforts to clean the road have begun however, the search teams continue to search for those who could be hidden in the mud, as cleaning process is completed.
“While the search is over however, it is still a top prioritization of authorities from the State of Alaska and your Alaska State Troopers in locating the missing three Alaskans so that we can provide relief to their families as well as the community at large,” the Alaska Department of Public Safety released a statement on this afternoon.
Search and rescue teams have searched all areas accessible by large machinery, but have not found the missing persons. The next step is to establish a single-lane road access so that the power company can restore power to households located that are south of the zone of slide.
The first goal is to make one access to the road in one lane. This will permit for the company that supplies power to repair power poles that are in the slide zone, and then reconnect the power to the road.
The names of the deceased as well as missing persons will be released on Friday.
Search teams have already found three bodies including two adults and a young child -one of them a survivor, a woman at the top of her hillside residence when the slide fell late on Monday night. She is now receiving medical treatment in the words of Alaska Department of Public Safety.
However, three persons including two adults and two children remain missing.
As Alaska State Troopers are leading the search The team also is comprised of Wrangell residents, including Wrangell fire and police officers together with state employees of departments like the Alaska Department of Transportation and the Department of Natural Resources.
Jeremy Zidek, public information officer of the State Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management said that an official geologist from the state took an airborne piloted flight above the slide this morning to ensure it was stable enough to allow rescue teams.
“Everyday the landslide’s shape changes,” Zidek said. “And when we’re sending teams out there, we’re obviously trying to finish the job as fast as we can however we do not want to contribute to the calamity.”
Zidek also mentioned that an emergency management specialist from the state is currently in Wrangell to assist in coordinating the response to landslides across local and state agencies.
At the site of the slide the search as well as rescue dogs will be on the lookout on top of the slide debris as well as from small boats on the shoreline from where the slide plunged into the sea.
“Every resource the state can access and that would be needed to support Wrangell was transferred for Wrangell,” McDaniel said.
