Toe of Beach Road landslide. The roughly 600-foot slide, triggered by torrential rain, took out several houses and left two residents missing. Photo courtesy of Alaska State Troopers.

The Dec. 2 slope failure at Beach Road that left two residents missing is at once tragic and unexpected, and also not at all surprising for Southeast Alaska, according to state geologists. The region is prime landslide territory and a changing climate-trending toward warmer, rainier winters-is likely…