Panic in Alaska as deadly landslide kills one and triggers evacuations across the state [Video]

09:14 EDT 26 Aug 2024, updated 09:51 EDT 26 Aug 2024

One person was killed and three others were injured in a massive Alaska landslide that prompted a mandatory evacuation.

Several homes, businesses, and roads were destroyed by the landslide in the coastal city of Ketchikan when rock and debris plummeted down a hill around 4 p.m. on Sunday.

Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy declared an emergency for Ketchikan, while Borough Mayor Rodney Dial and city Mayor Dave Kiffer issued a separate emergency declaration. 

Images show the devastation in the small town of 14,000 people with trees smashed into homes on the hillside and fallen electrical wires on top of cars.

‘In my 65 years in Ketchikan, I have never seen a slide of this magnitude. With the slides we have seen across the region, there is clearly a region-wide issue that we need to try to understand with the support of our State geologist,’ Kiffer said.