LUTHERAN QUILTERS – Members of the Quilts for Comfort Group stand between pews draped with some of the 205 quilts they made, in the Sitka Lutheran Church Tuesday. The group made the quilts for five local non-profits and one in Anchorage. The remaining quilts are sent to Lutheran World Relief which  distributes them to places around the world in need, such as Ukraine, as part of Personal Care Kits. Pictured are, from left, Helen Cunningham, Kathleen Brandt,Vicki Swanson, Paulla Hardy, Kim Hunter, Linda Swanson and Sue Fleming.  (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)

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Daily Sitka Sentinel

New Rain Threatens Slide Recovery Effort

By TOM HESSE and
SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
    Efforts to locate and recover the body of the third man missing in Tuesday’s Kramer Avenue landslide continued today but was halted late this afternoon as an approaching weather front threatened to stop operations through the weekend.
    Speaking from the scene, City Administrator Mark Gorman said crews had stopped searching for William Stortz, 62, amid concerns about conditions near the search area.
    “As of now we’ve moved on from recovery. The search and rescue dogs are returning to Juneau. We’ve exhausted looking on the site we thought William would be found, and he was not found there,” Gorman said. He added that crews had started searching another area, before being forced to stop.
    “There was another hopeful site down slope – the excavators started excavating but it was just too soupy,” he said. “So the priority now has moved into trying to create a drainage route to reduce the possibility of a further slide.”
    At a press conference this afternoon at the Fire Hall, Assistant Fire Chief and Incident Commander Al Stevens said crews were doing everything they could to locate Stortz while also bracing for the heavy rain forecast for the weekend.
    It was a downpour of 2.59 inches Tuesday morning that caused a mountainside above a new subdivision to break away, destroying a house where two men were working, and burying Stortz, a city worker who was inspecting the storm water drainage system.
    The bodies of Elmer Diaz, 26, and Ulises Diaz, 25, were recovered over the past two days and their names were officially released by the Sitka Police Department this morning.
    Conditions at the foot of the slide were so dangerous that attempts to recover the victims did not start until more than 24 hours after the slide, which struck at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday.
    Stevens said recovery operations for Stortz, along with the efforts of work crews to prevent the tons of logs, mud and debris from causing further damage, will probably be halted at 8 p.m., when the rain is predicted.
    “We’ve got a very small window and it’s closing rapidly on us ’cause you’ve heard what the weather report is,” Stevens said.
    That report, given by incident meteorologist Joel Curtis of the National Weather Service, calls for up to three inches of rain over the weekend, beginning with light rain tonight. 
    “By Saturday evening it’s going to be pretty heavy ... I’m thinking like another 1.3 inches – something like that,” Curtis said at the fire hall news conference.
    The added moisture will shut down recovery and debris removal efforts for the weekend, but Curtis said the oncoming weather is expected to be less damaging than Tuesday’s downpour of more than 2.5 inches of rain in six hours.
    “The main difference, here, than the event that we had Tuesday morning, is the fact that this rainfall will be spread out over time. So we’re looking at 36-48 hours of amounts, say 2-3 inches or so,” Curtis said. “The main thing to think about is this is spread out over much longer time than our slide event.”
    That extra time should allow hillsides in Sitka, particularly the debris field on Kramer Avenue, to shed water more effectively so that drainage infrastructure won’t be overwhelmed, said Department of Transportation Geologist Mitch McDonald.
    “The hazard for landslides does exist, certainly,” he said. “We’ve got new slides with open ground and we’ve got some rainfall coming. I think the forecast that Joel gave us is good: that that rain is not going to hit as intensely.”
    Public works and contractors working under their supervision have been working steadily to release the water trapped in the Kramer Avenue debris field and drain it away safely, while preparing for the runoff that will come with the next storm. Curtis said this one could be accompanied by 40 mph winds.
    While the evacuation orders for residents below the slide area on Kramer Avenue, Sand Dollar Drive and Whale Watch Drive have been lifted, McDonald said that he personally would have concerns about staying in the area if the rains come as forecast this weekend.
    “I would stay away from the area if the rain intensity occurs as it’s predicted – that’s what I personally would do,” McDonald said.
    Stevens said he will consider putting the evacuation order back in place if sufficient work to prepare the area is not completed by this evening.
    “I’m going to re-evaluate that. That’s a very hard decision to make,” Stevens said.
    Shortly before press time it was announced that a voluntary evacuation had been issued for Kramer Avenue, Sand Dollar Drive, and Whale Watch Drive. The evacuation order remains in effect for Jacobs Circle. In the release, Stevens said the upcoming weather was cause for concern.
    “We cannot say what effect the rain will have on the already weakened slide area. There is material remaining in the landslide chute and in the slide on Kramer Avenue that could move again,” Stevens said in the news release at 3:30 p.m. today. “Our top priority is the safety of our residents and our responders. The most prudent thing we can do is back off and see how the slide area handles the incoming rains.”
    The work on the slide area is primarily related to making sure that water flowing through the debris field is entering the city storm drain system, and is not being dammed by trees and mud.
    Referring to McDonald’s report, Stevens said: “We are working at doing some sort of drainage to prevent any further slides. We are going to get more slough-off off the mountain, we know that. We are trying to protect what we have in place at that time. We’re going to work on drainage. We still have a recovery effort in place, but we have a very short window of opportunity to complete these assignments.”
    McDonald was among geologists  who earlier this week climbed to the top of the slide, which started at 1,400 feet up the side of Harbor Mountain. Much of the focus of the inspection dealt with the potential of future slides, with a detailed analysis of the findings to come later. He did say, however, that it wasn’t the first time this part of the mountainside has broken loose.
    “The Kramer slide was in an existing slide path. The cause of it hasn’t been the focus as much as what’s the likelihood of another event coming down or what that might look like. As we’ve monitored the scene over the past few days we’ve seen the soil set up a little bit – which is good news. We’ve seen the water drain out – which is good news. To that end it seems as though it’s re-establishing itself, somewhat.”
    Stevens said all personnel and equipment, including the four tracked excavators, will be pulled out by 8 p.m. or when the rain starts.
    “If the rains come sooner, I’m going to pull them out sooner. We’re going to pull all equipment, all crews out. Obviously for safety reasons,” he said.
    Operations will resume when the weather allows, Stevens added. Curtis said the next “drying out” is expected Monday or Tuesday.
    As for the search for Stortz, four specially trained search dogs were working in the area along with recovery teams.
    Stevens said the dog teams have alerted in several different areas, and the dig effort is not directed to a single location.
    “We’re not just concentrated in one area, no. We’re working in several different areas,” Stevens said.
    He also gave an idea of why the search for the final victim must move at a slow pace.
    “As you can imagine, this is rather deep with mud, water, logs. You don’t just come in, scoop a big chunk out and call it good. You have to methodically and meticulously pull one piece out at a time. We have spotters in there that have to look at what’s happening and this is why it’s taken so long,” Stevens said.
    Addressing other aspects of the storm damage recovery Stevens said access to Blue Lake dam has been restored. Officials had been unable to reach the dam in person because of landslides from the Tuesday morning storm.
    “The Blue Lake Road has also been looked at. As of 24 hours ago that was an impassable road,” Stevens said. “It currently is a passable road. However, we’re going to keep it closed to anyone else. Our primary goal was to open it up so we could get access to the dam and the power house that was up there.”
    A special meeting of the Assembly has been scheduled 8 p.m. tonight at City Hall to vote on a request for disaster relief from the Governor’s office. City officials are still working to have a state of emergency declared that would allow for additional state funding.

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20 YEARS AGO

March 2004

Advertisement: Tea-Licious Tea House & Bakery 315 Lincoln Street Grand Opening! Freshly Baked Scones, Cakes & Pastries Innovative Salads, Soups & Sandwiches Harney & Sons Tea. Lunch * Afternoon Tea * Supper.

50 YEARS AGO

March 1974

Photo caption: National Republican Chairman George Bush takes a drink of water offered by Jan Craddick, Sitka delegate, during the Republican convention held here. Mrs. Craddick explained to Bush that the water was from Indian River, which means, according to local legend, that he will return.

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