Dan Bross, KUAC – Fairbanks
State Troopers believe there may be a person missing along the flood damaged Taylor Highway. Spokeswoman Megan Peters says officers checked a vehicle found in a flooded creek bed on the road, and found no occupants. Troopers believe the driver of the vehicle may be Charles Collins, age 56 of Eagle River. He is unaccounted for and considered missing. Peters says Troopers flew into the area where 18 vehicles and 20 to 30 people are cut off by washouts and mud slides north of Chicken. She says most have decided to stay put and wait for road repairs.
Heavy weekend rains swelled rivers and streams in the Forty Mile region, severely damaging sections of the Taylor Highway about 100 miles between Chicken and Eagle. The State Department of Transportation is working get a rough, one-lane road open soon so stranded motorists can get out. It may be next week before the road is re-opened to general public traffic.
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