Whitehorse City Council recommended that residents of a downtown home leave their homes after two more landslides occurred over the weekend.
“We’ve had conversations with them and they’ve taken care to stay at the residence,” Mayor Laura Cabott told CBC’s Yukon Morning Monday.
One of the two landslides occurred on Cliffside Park, near Jeckell Street, downtown. The park has been cordoned off since May 2021, when a previous landslide occurred.
Saturday’s landslide saw the fall of the escarpment, which runs along the west side of the city center, into the park, spilling onto 6th Avenue, near a house.
TARGET | Images from the Yukon Geological Survey show a landslide sending debris into Cliffside Park and 6th Avenue:
The situation comes after the city began cleaning up a massive landslide that occurred late last month.
This landslide was the result of about 3,000 to 4,000 cubic meters of sand, silt and clay falling from the escarpment across the Robert Service Way and the Millennium Trail and into the Yukon River.
The city said the current landslide is not caused by the recent construction of a sheet pile wall along Robert Service Way. The wall is being built to mitigate any future landslides in the area and allow officials to reopen the main thoroughfare in the city center, which has been closed for weeks.
Cabott said three houses are “very close” to the last slide area and potentially at risk. He said the city has spoken to the owners and that two of the three homes are empty.
Another landslide took place on Friday night or Saturday morning near Wood and Jarvis streets. Cabott said the city cordoned off more areas near the escarpment as a result of the weekend’s slides.
No risk to the public or property, the city says
Despite the new landslides, which Cabott described as “quite significant in size,” he said there is no risk to public and private property “at this time,” as long as people do not enter areas that the city has cordoned off. .
“People are safe in their home, but they should take precautions and they should be very aware of the steepness,” Cabott said.
He said city engineers and consultants continue to monitor the entire escarpment every day and expect to see more landslides over the next week or two as groundwater continues to seep through the escarpment.
The road near Wood Street in downtown Whitehorse after a landslide took place on May 28, 2022. (Chris Windeyer / CBC)
The city provided emergency preparedness information to residents of about 40 or 50 homes after the landslides this weekend, in case residents get stuck in their homes and are unable to leave for a while.
The information packs include tips for having enough supplies to last 72 hours, as well as signs that residents can place in windows that say HELP or OK.
Anyone who witnesses a landslide is asked to report it to City Hall at 867-667-2111.
The City Council will offer an update at a press conference at City Hall today at 2 p.m.