A massive landslide sent millions of cubic yards of rock and gravel into the Taku River Valley on the British Columbia side of the border on Christmas Eve. The slide was so large that it would have registered as a 2.9 magnitude earthquake in Juneau, 46 miles to the west.
(Photo by Darryl Keith Tait photo via Facebook – more photos at link)
The slide will likely change the course of the river in places, Must Read Alaska sources said, but since it’s frozen now, that’s a concern for Spring thaw. Cabins in that area are few and far between and are on the Canadian side of the massive river valley. Cabin owners are not especially concerned that their places will be inundated because there’s plenty of room for more water channels to establish.
The Taku River is a major salmon river in Southeast Alaska. Its headwaters are in British Columbia, where the Tulsequah Chief Mine, a historic copper and lead producer that operated from 1951 to 1957, sits idle.
“It’s an ‘oh my god’ situation,” Jamie Tait from Tundra Helicopters in Atlin, B.C. told Global News after he flew the river to survey the landslide.
“I’ve flown up and down that river for the better part of 40 years and you never see that stuff.”
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