Alaska News

Drenched: Parts of Southcentral Alaska under flood warning through Monday

Update, 4:30 p.m. Sunday: Southcentral Alaska is still wet and windy on Sunday afternoon. The National Weather Service has not yet rescinded flood warnings and additional weather advisories across the state.

As of this writing, the National Weather Service has cancelled the high wind warning for Anchorage, River, Indian and Eklutna. Earlier on Sunday, southeast wind gusts between 60-80 miles per hour, and upwards of 100 miles per hour in the morning along Turnagain Arm and at higher elevations. In East Anchorage, Hillside and Eagle River, Southeast winds of 30 – 55 miles per hour, with gusts to 65 miles per hour were recorded Sunday morning.

An Anchorage flood warning for Chester Creek remains in effect until 5 p.m. on Sunday. Moderate rainfall through the morning generated considerable runoff. Additional flood advisories have been issued for Anchorage bowl streams, including Campbell Creek, Ship Creek and Eagle River, until 10 a.m. Monday.

Talkeetna and the Susitna Valley remain under a flood warning, in effect until 4 p.m. on Monday, for rivers east of the Parks Highway that drain from the Talkeeetna Mountains.

The Upper Kuskokwim Valley has been issued a wind advisory, in effect until 6 a.m. Monday.

Seward, Western Prince William Sound and the Kenai Mountains have been issued a flood warning, in effect until 10 a.m. Monday.

Gale wind warnings have been issued for much of the Prince William Sound coastline, and others have been issued for essentially all of Alaska's coastline, from the Arctic to the Panhandle.

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Update, 11:10 a.m.: Chugach Electric reports that power has been restored to the Turnagain Arm communities. The outage affected 2,149 customers from Indian and Girdwood to Hope.

A storm passing through Southcentral Alaska is dumping rain and blowing strong winds through the region. While not as tumultuous as an earlier wind storm in Anchorage, some outages were reported, and weather advisories and warnings remain in effect for much of the region.

Winds and fallen trees caused some outages on the Chugach electric system early Sunday morning; in Northeast Anchorage, 1,777 customers lost power around 3 a.m., but as of 6 a.m., power to most locations had been restored, according to a Chugach Electric press release.

Smaller outages occurred in East Anchorage, Oceanview and Hillside, around Rabbit Creek and Goldenview. And around 10 a.m., Chugach reported that the 115-kilovolt transmission line between the Anchorage bowl and Cooper Landing deenergized when breakers opened, cutting power to communities along Turnagain Arm. As of this writing, power had not yet been restored.

Seward, a wholesale customer of Chugach, "was separated from the Chugach system" around 3 a.m. Seward also maintains local generation. Tim Camden, night auditor at Hotel Seward, said that from 3 to 5 a.m. Sunday morning, the entire downtown was "pitch black ... you couldn't even see your hand in front of your face." But these outages are not unusual, he added.

Most of Southcentral Alaska remains under weather advisories or warnings on Sunday, according to the National Weather Service.

Anchorage is still under a high wind warning, which will remain in effect until 8 p.m. Sunday. A flood advisory remains in effect until 10 a.m. Monday morning for all Anchorage bowl streams. And a flood warning, meaning that flooding is imminent or has been reported, has been issued for Chester Creek until 5 p.m. Sunday. Residents are advised to monitor rising water closely.

Talkeetna has been issued a flood advisory until 10 a.m. Monday. Ranger Robert Zimmer at the Talkeetna Ranger Station said that as of Sunday morning, the river had not flooded, but the water level was high.

In Valdez and Northeast Prince William Sound, a flood advisory remains in effect until 10 a.m., Monday, with strong winds expected in Thompson Pass on Sunday.

Cordova is under a high wind warning, in effect until 2 p.m. today; the fishing town is also seeing a flooding warning in effect until 10 a.m. Monday.

In Seward, a high wind warning remains in effect until 4 p.m. Sunday. A flood warning remains in effect for Western Prince William Sound through 10 a.m. Monday.

Off the Prince William Sound coastline, from Cape Suckling to Gore Point, hurricane force wind warnings are in effect for through Sunday.

In fact, on Sunday morning, essentially all of Alaska's marine zones, from the North Slope to the Aleutians and around the entire Gulf of Alaska to Southeast were under either gale warnings or small craft advisories.

Up-to-date weather alerts and forecasts are available, here.

Craig Medred

Craig Medred is a former writer for the Anchorage Daily News, Alaska Dispatch and Alaska Dispatch News. He left the ADN in 2015.

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