Body found in search for 3 missing in Alaska landslide

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -The body of one of three men missing following a series of landslides in a rain-saturated southeast Alaska town has been found, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management says.

Officials had been searching for William Stortz, a 62-year-old city building inspector, and brothers Elmer and Ulises Diaz, 26 and 25 respectively, since Tuesday when six landslides crashed into different parts of the city of Sitka after 2 ½ inches of rain fell in 24 hours.

CBS Anchorage affiliate KTVA reports Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management spokesman Jeremy Zidek said Wednesday evening that the body of one of the men was found earlier in the day by a K-9 team from Juneau.

Zidek noted that the dogs have been "instrumental in the search." Officials are reportedly waiting to release the deceased's name until family members are notified.

Earlier Wednesday, Zidek said search efforts were a challenge due to the bulk of debris pile being too unstable to tackle. He said the mud covering the site had the consistency of pudding.

City spokesman Ken Fate has said there is no time-frame for fully clearing the site, which he called a huge undertaking.

Gov. Bill Walker toured the area Wednesday. The picturesque fishing community, tucked between snowcapped mountains and the Pacific Ocean, is nestled in rain forest terrain on the west coast of Baranof Island that is characterized by heavy rains year-round.

Homes in town have been flooded, and there were reports of people not being able to reach their houses or leave their neighborhood, Zidek said.

The Diaz brothers were working on a new home under construction when the landslide hit.

Local resident Ramon Hernandez said the brothers are partners with him in Four Points Painting, a painting and drywall contractor in Sitka. The brothers are longtime residents who love playing basketball and are very close to each other, Hernandez said. The brothers' parents also live in Sitka.

Hernandez said he is holding out hope that he will get a phone call that the brothers are alive.

"There's been plenty of phone calls with bad news," he said. "I think it's fair for me to have a phone call with good news now."

Residents of about 20 homes near the construction site and at a downslope neighborhood were evacuated. Residents in the lower neighborhood were allowed to retrieve belongings for 30 minutes on Wednesday, according to Fate.

Chris Harshey, who is a carpenter, was working on a nearby home Tuesday when he heard the trees and earth fall from the mountain.

"All of a sudden, I heard crackling and crumbling, and then the lights flickered," he told the Daily Sitka Sentinel.

Harshey went outside to investigate and saw "a sea of large logs, mud, more logs and a slurry of muddy debris." The slide destroyed a home about 200 yards above him and damaged another home closer to him.

The entire landslide lasted about four minutes, he said.

The city of more than 9,000 people declared a state of emergency. Sitka, almost 600 miles southeast of Anchorage, is a popular cruise ship destination that features such landmarks as Mount Edgecumbe, an extinct volcano that rises 3,200 feet and somewhat resembles Japan's Mount Fuji.

Heavy rain was blamed for a major landslide in September near the town that wiped out hundreds of thousands of dollars in watershed-restoration projects. The rain also damaged a footbridge and trails, including one that had been repaired after flooding in January 2014.

A year earlier, two people at a U.S. Forest Service cabin near Sitka escaped moments before part of a mountain slid down.