Daily Sitka Sentinel

Search Resumes for Man Missing in Slide

By SHANNON HAUGLAND

and TOM HESSE

Sentinel Staff Writers

After a weekend delay because of rain, the search for the body of William Stortz resumed this morning in the debris left by last Tuesday’s Kramer Avenue landslide.

Stortz was one of three men killed when a mountainside slope gave way above a new subdivision above Halibut Point Road.

The bodies of Elmer Diaz, 26, and his brother Ulises Diaz, 25, were recovered in the days after the slide, but continued recovery efforts failed to locate Stortz by the time digging was halted Friday evening.

Incident Commander Al Stevens put the search and recovery efforts on hold at that time because of the forecast for heavy rains starting that night and continuing over the weekend. Emergency response officials had expected that it would be Tuesday before work could be resumed, but today’s break in the weather allowed an earlier start, said city clerk Sara Peterson, who is the designated spokesperson for the recovery work.

Peterson said a search team, a search dog and at least three tracked excavators started work early this morning, and were expected to work continuously at least through Thursday evening, when a new storm front is expected.

“We got a break in the weather, so we got an extra day,” Peterson said. “They’re going to hit it hard the next few days because rains from the typhoon in the Gulf of Alaska are supposed to hit here Thursday evening.”

Besides the three fatalities, a house that was in the final stages of construction was destroyed, along with other property including a trailer of construction tools owned by contractor Pete Weiland.

Officials said the landslide started at 1,400 feet above sea level and ran 1,000 feet down the mountainside above Kramer Avenue. After burying the house at 410 Kramer Avenue, it deposited a 25-foot high pile of denuded trees, rocks and mud in the street. The slide was one of seven in Sitka caused by the Tuesday morning rainstorm in which nearly 2.6 inches of rain fell in under six hours.

Over this past weekend Sitka received another two and a half inches of rain, but no significant damage was reported as a result.

The difference in the effect of the two periods of nearly equal amounts of rain was caused by the difference in length of time during which the rain fell on the two occasions. 

A NOAA chart on today’s front page shows the difference in the outflow of Indian River after the Aug. 18 rain compared to this weekend’s weather. 

About 50 searchers were at the debris field on Kramer Avenue early this afternoon. Peterson said workers had cleared out paths along both sides of the slide area to improve access and safety in the search areas. A drainage ditch was dug on Friday and Sunday to channel water to the right side of Kramer Avenue, and relieve pressure on the debris field.

The voluntary evacuation notice that went into effect late last week for Sand Dollar Drive, Whale Watch and south Kramer Avenue was lifted this morning, Peterson said. A mandatory evacuation notice for Jacobs Circle and the slide area on the upper end of Kramer has remained in effect since last Tuesday.

The City and Borough Assembly met Friday evening to approve an emergency ordinance declaring the mud slide as a “disaster emergency.”

The ordinance will allow Sitka to seek emergency state assistance through a number of departments. Gov. Walker also has access to other emergency funding, city officials said.

Walker came to Sitka Wednesday to inspect the disaster site, and gave the city administrator a commitment for state funding to help the recovery effort.

City officials said today hundreds of thousands of dollars has been spent so far on the emergency response, but  no estimates were out today on the cost of the damage.

“It’s too early to tell,” City Finance Director Jay Sweeney said. “Every day that you’ve got operations going on out there, contractors deployed, then those costs continue to increase. It’s impossible to say, it depends on how long it goes.”

The six members of the Assembly who attended Friday night’s emergency meeting voted unanimously in favor of the ordinance. It asks the governor to declare a disaster emergency, and “provide state assistance to the City and Borough of Sitka in its response and recovery from this event to include the state’s public assistance, individual assistance, Small Business Administration and temporary housing as appropriate.”

The declaration of disaster is also needed to be eligible for federal help, city officials said Friday. City staff has been working since Tuesday on the ordinance, with guidance on specific language from the governor’s office.

The ordinance calls attention to the damage in the “whereas” sections of the ordinance.

“Whereas, the following conditions exist as a result of the disaster emergency: significant damage to borough and state roads, power, buildings and other infrastructure to be discovered; actual damage or threats to several homes requiring evacuation, alternative housing and sheltering of affected residences.

“Whereas, the unstable ground conditions coupled with the unavailability of geology expertise to assess affected areas is hampering body recovery and damage assessment processes; ...”

City Administrator Mark Gorman said the areas of the debris field where teams were concentrating their efforts on Friday had failed to turn up any sign of the missing man.

Stortz was the city building official, and had gone to Kramer Avenue Tuesday to inspect drainage in the wake of the rain deluge that had occurred earlier in the morning.

Other areas of town affected by the storm may soon have access restored. The Blue Lake hydro dam is accessible to city staff however Blue Lake Road remains closed to the public, including pedestrians. Green Lake Road washed out at multiple points during the storm but Peterson said city officials expect it to be open for travel today.