Alaska Environment & Hazard Risk

By the early evening as the front was moving eastward a landslide was reported near mile post 11 south of Wrangell along the Zimovia Highway, which blocked the road and cut power to residents on the other side of the slide. The landslide resulted in 6 people perishing and 3 homes being destroyed, one person survived as they were saved by search and rescue personnel. The area around the slide was evacuated and homes to the south of the slide were without power for multiple days. Supplies were brought to the cutoff homes via boat. ||Rain amounts around Wrangell were around 3 inches for 24 hours but half of that amount fell within 6 hours preceding the landslide being reported along with high wind gusts at a 900 foot weather station just west of Wrangell on Zarembo Island. There was another large landslide that came down on the next ridge to the east along the Middle Ridge forest service road. This blocked the road and a person had to spend the night in his car as the road was blocked in both directions.

As the atmospheric river moved over the far north central inner channels of Southeast Alaska it produced significant amount of precipitation from December 1st-2nd. Heavy to moderate rainfall persisted over 48 hours with the highest amounts coming during the afternoon hours of December 1 through late morning of December 2nd. By mid morning on December 1st, near 2 of precipitation already fell. The snow levels were low at the start of the event with a few inches at sea level in Haines but as much as 12 was reported at 800 feet by the Haines40NW COOP and 20 at the 2500 foot Flower Mt SNOTEL site by the morning of December 1st. Closer to Haines, the Ripinski ridge weather station at 2560 feet reported an estimated snow accumulation of near 59 from before the warm air moved into the area. The snow level rose rapidly through the evening of December 1st to be above the mountain tops by the early morning hours of December 2nd. This warming at elevation melted the fresh snow that fell with Ripinkis Ridge losing close to 30 and Flower Mt losing near 20 by the afternoon of December 2nd. By the end of December 1st the Haines airport reported a 24 hour precipitation amount of 5.49 which was...

Shortly after 1500AKST on August 25th the larger of two landslides crossed the 3rd Avenue Bypass, a state road which is one of two routes for local traffic to get across town. There were 2 city employees that were working to clear culverts in their vehicle as the landslide occurred and killed the driver and significantly injuring the other passenger. As the landslide progressed down the slope, it destroyed 5 houses, caused 2 additional injuries, and damage to other surrounding properties. The entire area around the slide was evacuated until the hillside was evaluated. The 3rd AVE Bypass was closed and produced major congestion due to summer tourism as there was only one main road to move through town and this made it difficult for emergency services to get around in a timely fashion.

Over 3 inches of rain caused significant rises in creeks draining the Alaska Range from the evening of July 10th. This caused minor damage to several bridges, specifically the ones over Boulder Creek, Lower Suzy Q Creek, Upper Suzy Q Creek, Falls Creek, Gunnysack Creek, and Darling Creek. The Bridge over Bear Creek received significant damage, the approach road being washed out completely. The Richardson highway was closed between MP 281 and MP 234 for over 48 hours. Flooding also damaged a fiber optic cable which resulted in communications disruptions across the Interior.

Storm surge from strong southwesterly onshore winds brought water levels to over 6 feet above the normal highest tide line along the Kuskokwim Delta coast during the morning high tide October 12. Water levels peaked in Kwigillingok at 6.3 ft above the normal highest tide line. This surge was more than twice the previous record of 3.1 ft set in 1990. The Kipnuk gage datum recorded water levels of 5.86 ft above the normal highest tide line before the instrument experienced an outage (the actual crest was likely higher). Houses floated off of their foundations in numerous communities including Nightmute, Chefornak, Kipnuk, Kwigillingok, Kongiganak, Tuntutuliak, and Quinhagak. In Kwigillingok, an estimated 37 homes drifted from their foundation, and a preliminary assessment indicates every home in the community was affected {by flooding}. Additionally, 24 people had to be rescued from two houses floating out to sea. In one instance reported on social media from Kipnuk, a house floated 5.5 miles from its original location. 121 homes were destroyed in Kipnuk, an estimated 90% of the community's homes. 17 houses were affected in Nightmute, with some drifting from their foundation. 2...

The Palmer ASOS Station (PAAQ) reported freezing rain between 6:00 AM to 11:30 AM AKST on December 5th. An NWS employee of the Alaska Region Headquarters reported that Big Lake was receiving a bout of freezing rain at 7:30 AM AKST December 5th. A fatal traffic accident was reported off the Parks Highway with State Troopers noting that weather was a major factor in the incident. The two vehicles involved in the incident were a Chevrolet Silverado pickup with two persons and a Toyota Sequia with one person. The male driver of the Chevrolet survived with serious injuries while the female passenger was declared deceased at the scene. Investigations revealed that the Chevrolet lost control on icy roads and collided with the Toyota Sequia in the early morning of December 5th. Freezing rain was falling and roads were still accruing ice at the start of the investigation. An article about the incident can be found here: https://www.countryjournal2020.com/2024/12/crash-kills-woman-on-knik-goose-bay.html.