Cleanup efforts have begun for a landslide in Seward that cut off access to the community of Lowell Point and triggered a state of emergency Saturday evening, according to a press release from the City.
The slide, estimated to be around 300 feet wide by 200 feet long, according to the Associated Press, buried a large part of Lowell Point Road along Resurrection Bay.
Seward City Manager Janette Bower said Monday that as of Saturday evening around 100 people had been affected by the slide. Officials opened a shelter at Seward High School that night for people displaced by the event.
There were no injuries reported as of Monday, but there were vehicles stuck on the other side of the landslide, according to Seward City Clerk Brenda Ballou.
According to the release Monday, Metco Alaska started removing debris and city officials were sending drone footage to the state geologist’s office for analysis to consider any additional slides. The release states geologists will analyze the area of the current slide and the 2020 slide, which is just south.
There is no time frame for when the road will be cleared, Bower said, but it could possibly take multiple weeks to up to a month. She said the area is currently closed, barricaded and guarded by police officers.
Miller’s Landing Alaskan Fishing and Kayaking Outfitters water taxi company posted on its Facebook page Sunday that it would be offering “free rides for friends and locals” on Lowell Point who needed to get into town. Bower said Miller’s Landing was still operating water taxi services to individuals impacted by the landslide on Monday.
People who want to take photos of the slide are allowed to do so from a distance, Bower said, in the parking lot of the Alaska SeaLife Center downtown.
Reach reporter Camille Botello at camille.botello@peninsulaclarion.com.
City of Seward A landslide blocks Lowell Point Road in Seward.
