A windstorm bringing higher temperatures to Southcentral Alaska Sunday morning has caused widespread damage, cutting power for thousands of people and leading to flooding in some areas.
According to the Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities’ Facebook page, the sides and roof of the Rabbit Creek pedestrian bridge over the Seward Highway were swept onto the highway, closing it at about 2:30 a.m. Sunday. Crews spent hours dismantling decking and caging on the highway and reopened it by 7:45 a.m.
“The bridge superstructure remains intact and our bridge engineers are responding to conduct an inspection as quickly as possible,” state officials wrote.
National Weather Service forecaster Tracen Knopp said wind gusts Sunday morning reached 111 mph in Bear Valley.
“We've got a lot of damage,” Knopp said. “Reports of downed trees, some blown-in windows, especially higher up near Bear Valley, gusts up to 91 miles an hour and some over 100 in Bear Valley – so super impactful, a lot of damage across town.”
Temperatures were at 41 degrees at the Weather Service's West Anchorage station, Knopp said, and were likely to remain just above freezing across much of town later Sunday.
By 11:30 a.m. Sunday, Chugach Electric’s outage map showed power was out to about 17,500 members, largely concentrated in the Campbell Airstrip, Huffman Road, O’Malley Road and Oceanview areas. Updates on Chugach’s Facebook page indicated crews had been sent to Girdwood and Hope, but conditions were keeping crews from reaching Tyonek.
The Matanuska Electric Association’s outage map showed nearly 10,000 people without power, about a third each in Eagle River and in an area spanning from Big Lake to Willow and Houston.
The Weather Service issued a high wind warning effective until noon Sunday, calling for winds of 50 to 70 mph gusting to 85 to 100 mph along the Anchorage Hillside and Chugach Mountains. At lower elevations, winds were forecast at 30 to 45 mph with 50 to 75 mph gusts.
“Strong gusty winds will persist through the morning hours, but will not be (quite) as strong as they were overnight through early this morning,” forecasters wrote.
The conditions also caused the Alyeska Resort in Girdwood to close operations for the day.
“We are experiencing extreme winds, downed trees, and debris on the slopes which make conditions unsafe for skiing and snowboarding,” Alyeska officials said on the resort’s website.
The rest of Anchorage was also under a special weather statement Sunday, noting the day’s high temperatures.
“A strong storm system will bring another round of warmer weather and widespread rainfall to the Anchorage Municipality through Sunday night,” forecasters wrote. “Any heavy rain will likely lead to ponding of water on area roadways that could linger until storm drains are cleared of ice and snow.”
Palmer police were reporting flooding on local roads Monday, with police in Seward responding to a landslide along Lowell Point Road.
A special avalanche bulletin, from the Chugach National Forest Avalanche Information Center, warned of high avalanche danger in areas ranging south from Chugach State Park to Seward.
The weather service was asking residents of the region for updates on conditions Sunday morning.
Knopp said Anchorage residents can expect another day of relatively strong winds Monday, after conditions subside Sunday afternoon.
