Some residents of Mitkof Island heard a large landslide Sunday across the Wrangell Narrows on Kupreanof Island about 7-8 miles south of downtown Petersburg.
Witnesses who heard the slide say it happened after dark, around 6:40 or 7 p.m. Sunday, November 1st. A sizeable portion of the hillside above Mountain Point on the Kupreanof shoreline has been cleared of trees and mud.
Local resident Ed Wood wrote that it sounded like a squadron of fighter jets taking off, and he thought it lasted for five minutes or more. Another Mitkof Island resident, Britni Birchell, lives near seven mile of Mitkof Highway and also wrote that it sounded like a jet flying over. Kellie Jones described hearing the rumbling outside her home but couldn’t tell if it was on the Mitkof hillside on across the water on Kupreanof.
The slide happened on a record setting day of rain. The National Weather Service says Petersburg recorded 4.12 inches of rain Sunday, a new daily record for November 1st, besting the old mark set in 1969. The day before set a daily record as well with 2.06 inches. That beat a record for the 31st of October dating back to 1976.
Petersburg’s three day total for rain for Saturday, Sunday and Monday was 7.55 inches.
