Anchorage

Creeks rise as Anchorage closes in on century-old precipitation record

As the city neared a new rain record, Anchorage residents who fell asleep to the sound of pouring rain Tuesday night awoke to more rain and standing water in many areas Wednesday.

By early afternoon, the sun broke through, but only briefly.

The 16-day streak of measurable precipitation, counting Wednesday, amounts to the third longest in Anchorage history, according to the National Weather Service. That's closing in on a record 18 days of consecutive snow or rain set in 1919.

That record will fall or stand depending on how long a break in the weather lasts, said Weather Service meteorologist Mike Ottenweller said. The next storm could hit late Thursday or early Friday, followed by a more extended period of clear skies until Monday or Tuesday, Ottenweller said.

"We'll probably see the sun for the first time in quite awhile, at least for more than five minutes," Ottenweller said.

Earlier Wednesday, fellow meteorologist Dan Peterson said the Weather Service was watching closely water-level gauges on Campbell and Chester creeks, which were both nearly over their banks.

"They're close, I mean really close," Peterson said around midday. "And even though the rain has tapered off, (the creeks) are still coming up."

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The water dropped later in the day, prompting the Weather Service to cancel flood advisories for Anchorage, as well as for the Resurrection River to the south, where water had also been high earlier, Ottenweller said.

A flood advisory for the Kenai River remained in effect until 4 p.m. Saturday from Kenai Lake to Soldotna. The Weather Service also issued an advisory for possible flooding in the Susitna Valley for the Talkeetna and Yentna rivers and Willow Creek near the Parks Highway until 10 a.m. Friday.

If the waterways flood, or flooding is imminent, the Weather Service may issue a more-dire flood warning.

Peterson and Ottenweller said the Weather Service had not heard reports of any serious damage from the high water.

Anchorage police spokeswoman Jennifer Castro said officers helped city road workers close lanes in Sand Lake near Brentwood Drive and 79th Avenue for repairs Wednesday morning. Earlier, about 6:45 a.m., police dispatchers took a report of a small sinkhole in Midtown on Benson Boulevard between A and Denali streets, Castro said. It was described as 3 feet by 3 feet and 8 inches deep, she said.

The driver who reported the hole said it had damaged his or her car's rims and said, "It ate my tires," Castro said.

At 3.68 inches of precipitation so far in Anchorage this September, the city is only about halfway to the record for the month of 7.35 inches set in 2004, according to the Weather Service.

Contact Casey Grove at casey(at)alaskadispatch.com. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/kcgrove

Casey Grove

Casey Grove is a former reporter for the Anchorage Daily News. He left the ADN in 2014.

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