A weather forecaster returns to Sitka’s slide: ‘We were snakebit’

One year ago, on August 18, 2015, massive rainfall generated over 40 landslides on Baranof and Chichagof Islands. And in Sitka, one of those landslides swept through a subdivision under construction. The slide occurred at 9:41 in the morning, demolishing one home and taking the lives of two painters, Elmer and Ulises Diaz, working inside. A third individual, William Stortz, was Sitka’s building official. He was inspecting drainage outside nearby when the slide caught him too.
National