The search for three people left missing by Monday’s landslide in Wrangell is now a reactive search rather than active search, Alaska State Troopers said Thursday. That means efforts to clear the roadway have started, but search and rescue teams will continue to look for people who may be buried in the mud as the clean-up progresses.
“While the active search is concluding, it remains a priority of the State of Alaska and your Alaska State Troopers to locate the three missing Alaskans so we can bring closure to their families and the community,” The Alaska Department of Public Safety wrote in a statement this afternoon.
Search and rescue crews have scanned all areas around the slide that are accessible without heavy machinery but did not find the missing people. Now, the goal is to create single lane road access so the power company can restore electricity for households south of the slide zone.
The names of the dead and missing will be made public on Friday.
Search teams have already recovered three dead — two adults and a child — and one survivor, a woman who was on the top floor of her hillside home when the slide came down late Monday night. She is currently receiving medical care, according to the Alaska Department of Public Safety.
But three people — an adult and two children — are still missing.
While Alaska State Troopers are leading the search efforts, the team also includes local Wrangell police and firefighters, along with state personnel from the Alaska Department of Transportation and the Department of Natural Resources.
Jeremy Zidek, public information officer for the state Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, said a state geologist made a helicopter flight over the slide site today to make sure it was stable enough for rescue teams.
“Everyday that landslide is changing,” Zidek said. “And when we’re sending crews out there we obviously want to do that work as quickly as possible, but we don’t want to add to the tragedy.”
Zidek also said a state emergency management expert is on the ground in Wrangell to help coordinate landslide response across state and local agencies.
At the slide site, search and rescue dogs will be searching atop the slide debris and from small boats along the shore where the slide ran off into the water.
“Every resource that the state has at its disposal, that is needed in a Wrangell, has been sent to Wrangell,” McDaniel said.
