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Latest fatal landslide in Alaska kills 1 and injures 3 in Ketchikan, a popular cruise ship stop

Associated Press

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – A landslide cut a path down a steep, thickly forested hillside and crashed into several homes in Ketchikan, killing one person and injuring three in the latest such disaster to strike mountainous southeast Alaska.

The landslide Sunday afternoon prompted a mandatory evacuation of 60 nearby homes in the city, a popular cruise ship stop along the famed Inside Passage in the Alaska panhandle. The slope remained unstable Monday, and authorities said that state and local geologists were arriving to assess the potential for further slides.

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Four homes were critically damaged, officials said, and homes next to the slide area were still being assessed. Several homes and businesses reported flooding.

Last November, six people — including a family of five — were killed when a landslide destroyed two homes in Wrangell , about 100 miles (161 kilometers) to the north. Torrential rains were blamed for landslides that killed two people in Haines in 2020 and three people in Sitka in 2015.

“In my 65 years in Ketchikan, I have never seen a slide of this magnitude," Ketchikan Mayor Dave Kiffer said in a statement. “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.”

He said the loss of life was “heartbreaking, and my heart goes out to those who lost their homes.”

Ketchikan officials on Monday identified the victim as Sean Griffin, a 17-year veteran of the city’s public works team who was clearing stormwater drains with a co-worker when they were caught in the landslide.

“It was his commitment to the community that caused him to respond to the call for assistance during his scheduled time off,” a statement from Ketchikan Gateway Borough Clerk Kacie Paxton said.

The landslide followed a weekend bout of rain amid an abnormally dry August, said Andrew Park, a meteorologist in Juneau with the National Weather Service. The weather service early Monday said Ketchikan had received about 2.6 inches (66 millimeters) of rain in about 36 hours, though rainfall totals at higher elevations nearby ranged from 5 to 9 inches (127 to 229 millimeters).

Landslides can be unpredictable, but this one occurred without certain other risk factors, such as high winds, Park said.

“There weren’t any of the big red flags we would normally see,” he said.

Leah Canfield was trying to nap when the slide struck. She saw a flash of light — she initially thought lightning, but it was likely an electrical conductor exploding, she said — and then her house started rumbling. She woke her spouse, and they grabbed their dogs and headed outside.

“When we started coming down the stairs, we’ve seen that, you know, there’s a lot of debris that was flying around outside our office window and realized, you know, that this is probably much bigger than just an earthquake,” she said.

They found that their neighbor’s home had plunged downhill, part of it coming to rest in their front yard. Another two-story house next door partially collapsed and slid into a different home, knocking it off its foundation. Trees, debris and a telephone pole landed on the roof of Canfield’s home, but Canfield said she believed the house could be salvaged.

After calling family members to let them know they were OK, they walked about 20 minutes to a hotel, because their pickup truck was buried by uprooted trees.

Ketchikan is surrounded by the Tongass National Forest, a temperate rainforest that encompasses much of southeast Alaska. Landslides strike often in the region, but garner little notice when they hit remote, unpopulated areas.

But as climate change intensifies storms and destabilizes soil, they are posing more risk to communities.

Because of the steep terrain, there's limited room for development in the region, and cities and roads are built at the base of slopes. Increasingly, landslides are occurring in inhabited areas of “old infrastructure that’s been built in harm’s way," said Aaron Jacobs, a meteorologist and senior service hydrologist with the National Weather Service’s Juneau office.

“It’s just becoming more and more common that they’re impacting people,” Jacobs said.

Jacobs planned to travel to Ketchikan on Monday to study the soil composition in the area and try to pinpoint why it occurred when the area had been in a period of drought before the weekend’s rainfall.

“We’re going to learn more about this and hopefully we can figure out what caused it and then we can move forward on it,” he said.

Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy declared an emergency for Ketchikan, while Kiffer and Ketchikan Gateway Borough Mayor Rodney Dial issued a separate emergency declaration. A shelter was set up at Ketchikan High School.

Two of the victims in Ketchikan were admitted to the hospital and one was treated and released. All other individuals were accounted for, the city and borough said in a joint statement.

Michael Robbins, the superintendent of schools in Ketchikan, said in a statement on social media that a dozen people were staying at the shelter at the local high school as of Monday morning.

But people often stay with friends or relatives after such events, so it remained unknown how many were displaced.

Power was restored to some of the area by 8:15 p.m. Sunday. Other areas will remain without power while the landslide is cleared and broken power poles are replaced.

Landslides include debris flows often triggered by heavy rains. When logging or fire destroys trees, the loss of root structure can weaken soil. Rain that isn’t being sucked up by plants can saturate the ground, making it more likely to slide. Other types include creeps, which move slowly downward, and rock falls.

In Alaska, melting permafrost, retreating glaciers, earthquakes and pounding rains can all trigger landslides.

This story corrects the last name of the borough clerk to Paxton, not Paxon.

Thiessen reported from Anchorage, Alaska. Leah Willingham in Charleston, West Virginia, contributed.

Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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Carnival Luminosa is joining the Carnival fleet from sister cruise line, Costa Cruises. Set sail on Carnival Luminosa and enjoy great views with lots of natural light, plus the hospitality and fun that’s purely, unmistakable Carnival. Setting sail in Australia before joining Carnival's fleet in Alaska for a summer of fun, then heading back down under for some for Australia fun!

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• Ship Name: Carnival Luminosa
• Year Entered Present Fleet: 2022
• Maximum Capacity: 2,826
• Number of Passenger Decks: 12
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• Officers' Nationality: International
• Ocean-View without Balcony: 90
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Best of Moscow by high speed train

By shuguley , February 15, 2014 in Regent Seven Seas Cruises

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Sure would appreciate someone who has taken "Best of Moscow by high speed train" from St. Petersburg could please share their impressions of this shore excursion. From the description this sounds like a very long day.

Wondering how the 4 hour train trip was in terms of accommodations, etc. Also what time did you leave the ship and what time at night did you return? Were both legs of the trip on the high speed rail (I read that slower trains also travel the same tracks)?

My wife and I are considering this excursion. We thought that if we are making all the effort to go to Russia then how could we pass up going to Moscow, walking in Red Square, seeing St. Basil, etc.

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If you are considering this on the 2015 June Baltic cruise on Voyager; my suggestion is don't. There is so much to do in St. Petersburg and although a train is one of my favorite ways to travel the time would be far better spent in St. P.

Thanks for the advice. Yes, this would be on the Voyager during the 2015 season but not yet sure exactly which cruise.

We did the Moscow excursion "on a different luxury line", but from your brief description it sounds very much like the same trip, so I will operate on that assumption. It is a VERY long day! We left the ship at 5:30 AM and returned at 12:30 AM. The highspeed train trip is comfortable, and while they call it "Business Class" it does not compare well to the equivalent class on say Rail Europe. When we did it in 2011, we did have highspeed both ways, and the trip back seemed much longer as the adrenaline and excitement had worn off!:D

Moscow itself is not that terribly different from any other big city in the world, but this Cold War kid never thought he would ever stand in Red Square, never mind walk the grounds of The Kremlin, or tour The Kremlin Palace, or see (but not visit) Lenin's Tomb, or visit The Armoury. But he did, and he loved every minute of it! Yes, it is a long day, and you barely scratch a scratch on the surface, but it is worth it. There is a tremendous amount to see in St. Petersburg, but every Baltic cruise goes to St. Petersburg, so you can go back if you choose to. Not every cruiseline offers you the chance to see Moscow.

I have not personally done this tour, but our last time in St Petersburg, the private guide that we hired for a day was leading the regent tour to Moscow on the high speed train the next day. He said it was way better than the previous alternative, which was flying to Moscow and back. He said that you actually got to Moscow faster because you didn't have to deal with airline checkin etc. it did seem like a very long day to me, and there is so much to see and do in st. Petersburg that I didn't consider doing it.

countflorida

We toured to Moscow from St. Petersburg via the hi-speed SAPSAN train last September, from a Baltic cruise on the Oceania Marina. You need to have a two-night, three day port call in St. Petersburg to take this tour because the tour typically leaves the ship around 5:00 - 5:30 AM and doesn't return until after midnight the next day. We didn't take the ship's tour; we made private arrangements with TravelAllRussia for three days of touring, the first and third days in St. Petersburg and the second day the tour to Moscow by train. Our cost for the private tour for three days was about the same as what the ship charged for the excursion to Moscow alone. There are a number of private tour agencies that operate in St. Petersburg and offer the Moscow train tours; we would strongly recommend them over the ship's tours.

All three days had private guides with car and driver. The second day, the driver picked us up at the ship and took us to the train, but we were alone on the train, and met in Moscow by the guide on the station platform. After our tour and dinner, we were brought back to the train and after the return train trip met by the driver and taken back to the ship. Because you are alone on the train you must have your own Russian visas.

If this is your first visit to St. Petersburg, I would agree there is much more to see there. We found Moscow somewhat a disappointment, particularly Red Square. The Kremlin and the cathedral in Red Square were also worth seeing. But the best thing we saw was the Moscow subway! I worked for the Washington Metro system back in the 1980s as it grew from 40 to 80 miles and although I was in the computer area, I learned a lot about the challenges of running a subway system. We used the Moscow system to get across the city from where we had dinner to the train station, and I was amazed at the cleanliness', speed of operation, the short headways maintained, and the courtesy of everyone involved. A very impressive experience!

We had been to St. Petersburg before, and so had the time to take a day and go to Moscow. Also, I really like trains, and the SAPSAN is a German train set running on Russian rails. Seats are like first class domestic air, spacious but not too plush or comfortable, but with enough room. Not too much recline, and almost 8 hours on the train in two shots is a lot for an old man. They come through and sell drinks, candy, etc. but the sellers don't speak English and no one around us helped, so we had just poor coffee once coming, and brought stuff with us for the trip back. Not too much to see from the train either, particularly on the return when it is night the whole way.

If you decide to go, take a private tour and avoid the overly expensive ship's tour. I'm glad we did it, but wouldn't bother to repeat the tour; we've seen Moscow.

Thanks so much to all of you for the thorough and thought insight. Yhe information you have provided is most helpful.

countflorida: Your detailed post is very helpful. We are not quite ready for a Baltic cruise but should do so within a year. Time enough to do our pre travel research, bookings and visa gathering.:) Thank you!

Emperor Norton

Sure would appreciate someone who has taken "Best of Moscow by high speed train" from St. Petersburg could please share their impressions of this shore excursion. From the description this sounds like a very long day.   Wondering how the 4 hour train trip was in terms of accommodations, etc. Also what time did you leave the ship and what time at night did you return? Were both legs of the trip on the high speed rail (I read that slower trains also travel the same tracks)?   My wife and I are considering this excursion. We thought that if we are making all the effort to go to Russia then how could we pass up going to Moscow, walking in Red Square, seeing St. Basil, etc.

I did this on Seabourn. IMO DONT. Take Aeroflop (er Aeroflot). The train has non folding seats where you are literally knee to knee with your fellow passenger (facing each other). Further they don't believe in air conditioning. It's also the worlds slowed bullet train. I think I would have found more enjoyment wandering around the St. Petersburg and Moscow airports.

Countflorida,

This is a little off topic,, however we had planned a river cruise in Russia but decided we would rather stay on land and have booked about two weeks with Travel-All-Russia using the private guide and driver. I'm curious as to how you found them as a tour company.

The guides they provided were fine. We had a different guide each of the days in St. Petersburg, but both were flexible, pleasant, knowledgeable and spoke English very well, as did the guide in Moscow, incidentally. She was a bit aloof, distant, not too friendly, but otherwise fine. In fact, she was the one who suggested taking the Metro, which unexpectedly became one of the highlights of the Moscow excursion. If I have a complaint with AllTravelRussia, it is with their plan and its execution (more later).

I had requested emphasis on World War II (in Russia, the Great Patriotic War) sites and info. In scheduling us, they weren't careful about dates and a couple of the sites we wanted to see were scheduled on the third day, after we'd been to Moscow. But both sites were closed that day of the week, and that info was readily available, right on web sites describing them. Also, the included meals (lunches in St. Pete, dinner in Moscow) were not what we asked for: light meals with some choices, so we could avoid things we didn't like and choose things we did like. My request was ignored; we were given full Russian meals with a fixed menu, no choice. On the first day, a fish dish was the entre, but I am allergic to fish. Fortunately, I had the e-mail I'd sent with me and showed it to the guide, and she was able to change my entre to chicken, which was very good actually. But we didn't want a 3-4 course lunches or dinner (in Moscow). We had the guide drop the lunch the third day, although we never got any credit or refund. But, particularly in contrast to the ship's tours, the prices were so reasonable we didn't worry too much about it.

The people who were on the ship's tour to Moscow saw us boarding the same train for which they were forced to queue up and wait on the way back, and asked us what we had done. I was candid and open so they were not happy when I explained what we had arranged and particularly what it had cost. Also, when we returned to the ship, we found they had laid on a late supper for those who had gone to Moscow, so up we went and had something. Well, it turns out the late supper was supposed to be just for those on the ship's tour, but we and others on 'independent' tours, there were a dozen or more of us, crashed the party, actually got there first, and they didn't realize it until the larger group arrived and there weren't enough tables/places set. By that time, the 'independents' had all gotten served and were eating; what could they do?

A couple from the larger group sat down with us and asked us about our tour, and they were the ones I told about our arrangement and its cost. They turned to others who’d been with them and announced the details, loudly enough so the whole room heard, which started a lot of bitching and complaining. I gathered they weren't very happy with the ship's tour to begin with, and this was the straw that broke the camel's back. We finished up and beat it out of there, but overheard later that one of the excursion staff came to check on something and ran into a real mess. I caught a cold on the trip, which forced me to bed the second day following in Tallinn, so by the time we reappeared we heard about the contretemps' but apparently no one recalled who started it, thankfully.

Because of what happened to us, I would probably not use AllTravelRussia if I were to go again, or if I did, I would be sure to get confirmation of every detail of the tour. They do have good reviews generally, and we were certainly helped by their visa department and liked the guides and drivers. Their weakness, I say now with full 20:20 hindsight, is that once the sales person who plans the tour, sells it to you and collects your money, he (or she) transfers the plan to their Russia office for implementation; there is no follow-up to make sure it gets done right. And that is where our problems arose; we paid for a custom tour but got a standard package with a few destinations switched, and no one checked them out, even to see when they were open the day we were scheduled to go. If you check every detail that’s important to you, it should be OK, but that’s a hell of a way to have to do business, in my opinion.

Thank you for the 20/20 hindsight observation on your Russian tour operator, and better priced than the ship's excursion cost.

Thanks very much for the feedback.

We had the same experience as you so far as price. We originally booked a Viking Cruise but, hearing some things about the river cruises that made us unhappy, looked into other options. T-A-R cost the same or less than a cruise and had us in hotels for 11 days. We opted for the private tour. They have three tour levels, based on hotels. We originally opted for the four star as it did not cost much more than the three star hotels. Finally we decided to throw it all in and upgraded to five star. In Moscow we will be at the newly opened Kempinsky which is two blocks from Red Square. In St. Petersburg it is the Grand Hotel Europe, one of the most vaunted luxury hotels in Russia. Location is important for us as the tours use up only part of the day so being in the center of everything for our independent touring is important. As with many other cities, the less you pay, the farther out of the center of town you are.

We have been working with our salesman in D.C. and he seems to get back to us with the changes we want. He recently returned from Russia so is up on everything. When I asked they said they paid the full TA commission if I wanted so I got my usual TA on board so he is watching our back and giving us that extra level of comfort. He also set up our air, which I know pays him little or nothing, and got us business class for much less than T-A-R wanted for economy, though it took working for a while with a consolidator. He's happy to get his 10 percent on this trip without having booked it. He also took care of the trip insurance. We've been doing a lot of research on the CC sister site Trip Advisor and will write a report there. We will, I guess, become a source of info for CC members after having spent 5 days in Moscow and 6 in SP.

• 4 months later...

scubacruiserx2

Anybody considering a day trip to Moscow from St. Petersburg on the Sapsan may want to look at our travelogue filled with pictures.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1927687

Very informative. Thanks dor sharing. Jeff

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