Avalanche
An evacuation order was placed into effect last Thursday in a suburb of Anchorage, Alaska after an avalanche plowed through a residential neighborhood, with another slide considered imminent by local authorities. Residents living near the Hiland Road area in Eagle River were instructed to leave last weekend after the first avalanche had come down the mountainside shortly before midnight on Thursday, leaving an estimated 80 feet-deep layer of snow over the main road, as reported by Yahoo News.
The first avalanche cut off access to about 100 homes, many of which had lost power. Avalanche experts were expecting a second avalanche to rip after the first because only half of the snow in the zone was released. Emergency responders were dispatched to cut a trail to reach stranded residents and were removing people in snowmobile shuttles, Assistant Anchorage Fire Chief Alex Boyd said, the scene’s incident commander.
Miraculously, no one has been reported missing and no injuries were reported, according to Yahoo News, and the damage to properties is still being assessed. Local authorities are calling this avalanche a “once-in-a-hundred-year event.”
