Woman escapes Alaskan rockslide, then stops driver seconds from disaster
Video shows her interrupted mid-sentence by a crashing noise as she immediately grabs her camera and runs for safety
Alaska explorer on escaping rockslide: 'Extremely grateful'
An Alaskan resident tells FOX Weather how she survived a rockslide and alerted a motorist which potentially saved the driver from crashing into boulders.
JUNEAU, Alaska – A woman filmed herself escaping the path of a rockslide near Juneau, Alaska, last week and then frantically rushed to save drivers from getting killed.
Alana Davis was recording footage on TikTok from a beach along the Douglas Highway on April 6 when the rockslide happened.
Video shows her interrupted mid-sentence by a crashing noise. She immediately grabs her camera and runs for safety, waving her arms and shouting at highway traffic to stop.
"Stop! Stop! Stop! Stop! Stop! Stop your car!" she yelled while trying to catch her breath.
Davis said a man driving a pickup was about to encounter a blind turn on the highway while traveling at 50 mph.
"Literally 30 seconds from getting killed. Think about that," the man told Davis.
"I ran screaming down the road, just so you know, on the beach flailing my arms," she replied.
(Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities)
Landslide and debris flow warning signs include a faint rumbling sound that increases in volume and is noticeable as the landslide nears, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Unusual sounds, such as trees cracking or boulders knocking together, might indicate moving debris.
Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities spokesman Sam Dapcevich said about 500 cubic yards of material fell to the road from a cliff about 500 feet up the hillside near mile 11 of North Douglas Highway on April 6. Crews immediately responded and cleaned up the slide debris to reopen the highway.
On April 10, a second slide took place at the same location with approximately twice the quantity of material reaching the road, including several car-sized boulders that bounced across the road and over the guardrail, finally landing on the beach or in the water.
(Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities)
"Our maintenance and operations foreman was there working on cleanup when the second slide came down, and he took action to keep traffic from passing through," Dapcevich said.
As of Wednesday, both lanes are cleared, but the road will remain closed while geologists monitor the site. A geotechnical team is gathering imagery with a drone as weather conditions allow.
"It was very windy during both slide events, many tree roots are now exposed that appear to have grown in the rock crevices. The wind moving the trees likely jostled the rock and could have been the cause of both slides. There’s still a lot of rock up there that could come down in the future," Dapcevich said.
Transportation crews will build a catchment area at the base of the slide path to prevent future rockfalls from entering the roadway.