6 people are missing after a mudslide swept through a neighborhood in Alaska

• A 600-foot-wide mudslide hit Haines, Alaska, on Wednesday after a period of heavy rain.
• The mayor of Haines, Alaska, said that evacuation and search and rescue efforts would resume on Thursday.
• He said about 30 people had been evacuated from the area hit by the mudslide, but six people were still unaccounted for.

Six people are missing after a 600-foot-wide mudslide slammed into a neighborhood in southeast Alaska, officials said on Wednesday.

The mudslide, which came after a period of heavy rain, destroyed four houses and damaged several others that were in its path in Haines, Alaska.

Douglas Olerud, the mayor of Haines, a community of about 2,000 people in Alaska's panhandle, told the Associated Press that about 30 people were evacuated on Wednesday and six people were still unaccounted for.

He said evacuation efforts were suspended on Wednesday because of unstable soil, and efforts planned to restart on Thursday.

Olerud told USA Today that the rainfall and mudslide had caused a "few million dollars" in damage to Haines this week.

"It's been a long day," he told USA Today on Wednesday. "I've lived here my whole life except for going to college and working down South for a couple of years. This is the largest national disaster that I've seen in town."

The Alaska Department of Transportation said in a statement on Facebook that landslides in and around Haines had been "devastating."

"Over the past 24 hours, strong winds and record-breaking rainfall caused considerable damage to roads and infrastructure in many of Southeast Alaska's communities," the agency said on Facebook. "Our crews are working non-stop to clear the waters and remove debris from our roadways and ditches."

Capt. Stephen White, commander of Coast Guard Sector Juneau, told AP that the extent of damage in Haines is still unknown.

"We are proactively moving several assets and personnel to provide assistance to local first responders and residents who may have been impacted by the landslides," he said.

A flash flood warning is in effect through Thursday afternoon in Haines.

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