Alaska Railroad freight train derailed early Tuesday after plowing into avalanche debris south of Girdwood. The debris spread roughly 300 feet across the tracks.
No residents had been reported injured or missing, and power had been restored to most impacted homes. City officials had also carved a path so residents can travel in the area by snowmachine.
Class 2 avalanche in Hatcher Pass closed down a section of the road between Mile 14 and 16. The nonprofit Hatcher Pass Avalanche Center warned that conditions in the area were dangerous and asked that people avoid the Archangel Road trail nearby.
Jeffrey Cheng, 33, died in the slide. One of his friends managed to hold on to a tree as waves of avalanche debris washed over his head. The third member of their group wasn’t caught.
“I wouldn’t have been on the road if there had been an avalanche warning in effect,” says a woman who fell victim to an avalanche along Flateyrarvegur in the Westfjords on Friday. The avalanche-prone road is not currently monitored, but Vegagerðin is now looking at improvements.
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