Crews have cleared what they’re calling a “creek slide" at Mile 57 of the Sterling Highway, just west of Sportsman’s Landing.
The slide sent a large rush of water from Fuller Creek across the road early this morning, flooding a culvert and closing the road to two-way traffic for a time this afternoon.
The road is now back open to traffic as normal. Jill Reese with the Alaska Department of Transportation said an investigation showed the cause to be a beaver dam that gave out at Fuller Lake and let water and debris lose onto the highway, potentially due to rapid snowmelt or another trigger.
It’s the latest landslide event to hit the Kenai Peninsula in several days.
Trees and debris are still blocking off the community of Lowell Point, near Seward after a massive landslide there last weekend. Crews are cleaning up that slide and blasting rocks on site to clear the way for cars and people to get through.
Bretwood Higman is a Seldovia geologist who has studied landslides around Alaska.
He said a landslide happens anytime material that’s on a slope lets loose and starts moving down a hill. And while the exact cause of the landslide in Seward is still under investigation, he said there are a couple different ways to think about what could’ve caused that slide – and the others that have hit Alaska.
You can find updates about the Seward landslide on the City of Seward’s Facebook page. The Kenai Peninsula Borough is holding a town hall in Lowell Point for the community Friday evening at 7 p.m.
