A landslide in Sitka early Monday afternoon stranded people on either end of the road system for about eight hours, but otherwise there no reports of damage or injuries.
The slide happened at around noon on Labor Day, along Halibut Point Road, Sitka’s only northbound highway connecting downtown to the deepwater cruise ship dock and the state ferry terminal.
Sitka Fire Chief Dave Miller was one of the first on scene.
“It’s pretty impressive,” Miller said. “The hillside came down maybe 200-feet in elevation down to the road level. It’s maybe 100-150 feet wide. It was a pretty good piece of earth that came down.”
The Sitka Electric Department cut power along the highway while crews worked to clear debris, some of which was pushed against poles supporting the main electrical transmission lines, which had shorted out.