Storm isolates Valdez; floods cover Cordova
RICHARDSON: Mudslides and bridge damage block highway, strand travelers.
By KATIE PESZNECKER
Anchorage Daily News
Published: October 11, 2006
Last Modified: October 11, 2006 at 04:45 AM
Record rainfall, mudslides and snowmelt are hammering Valdez, where breached levees Tuesday prompted the evacuation of some 200 residents, and others remained stranded after officials closed nearly 70 miles of the Richardson Highway.
The wet, windy, unseasonably warm weather has walloped Southcentral communities like Valdez, Seward, and Cordova for days. In the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, officials said while water rose along some troublesome creeks and rivers, no waterway reached flood stage.
The Richardson closure stranded at least six travelers at a highway maintenance station at Thompson Pass. At least eight others holed up at Rendezvous Lodge farther north, where state officials measured about 6 inches of rainfall in 24 hours.
Waters outside Valdez' Alpine Woods subdivision slopped over the Lowe River Dike. The city told people to get out, as the Red Cross set up a shelter at George Gilson Junior High School. Storms cut off at least 10 homes in Heiden View, a smaller subdivision north of the city, where Matt Kinney runs the Thompson Pass Mountain Chalet.
"The creeks here look like turbine jets," Kinney said. "When I walk out my door, it's thunderous. I'm looking out at probably 20 waterfalls coming down from 6,000 feet."
Valdez sits on the north shore of Port Valdez in Prince William Sound. It's a 305-mile drive from Anchorage, and the southern terminus of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline. Its 4,400 residents can leave only by airplane, the state ferry or the Richardson.
That road took a beating the past few days. The National Weather Service said 6.5 inches of rain fell Sunday and Monday at Valdez -- 4.6 inches Monday alone, breaking the city's 24-hour record. Spots along the closed section of highway -- from 12 miles northwest of Valdez to milepost 79 -- recorded even greater accumulations.
The Alaska Department of Transportation decided to close that stretch late Monday, with entire sections slathered over with mud and debris and uprooted trees, or drowned beneath standing water. Floods washed away Mineral Creek Bridge which leads to a subdivision west of town. Bridges on the Richardson Highway at Keystone Canyon were also damaged or in danger including one that was moved five feet, according to Shannon McCarthy, spokeswoman for the DOT's northern region.
Road repairs won't happen soon, she said. "We're not talking about a matter of hours. We're definitely talking about a matter of days."
The city depends largely on trucks to haul supplies like groceries to its stores, so the marine highway system is beefing up ferry routes. The boat trip from Whittier to Valdez takes about five hours.
Marine highway officials Tuesday also got the OK to open the Whittier Tunnel as needed, to swiftly get supplies through, said Mike Chambers, a DOT spokesman.
Flooding hit Valdez just as the Alaska Travel Industry Association kicked off its annual conference, with hundreds of visitors and speakers expected, said Dave Worrell, ATIA's communications director. Getting there was a challenge.
Era Aviation canceled all flights to the city Monday and turned one around Tuesday because of problems with weather and ground navigation equipment, said Paul Landis, Era president.
Era is adding flights to get people in and out of Valdez, Landis said.
Worrell left Anchorage Sunday, and enjoyed a beautiful drive to Valdez. Colleagues weren't so lucky, he said. One bus came within 50 miles of Valdez early Tuesday morning when road crews turned it around.
People live along the highway, McCarthy said, "And we don't know what the full extent is of people stranded. ... This is kind of an old fashioned rescue."
Cordova is similarly drenched. The city recorded 22 inches of rain in two days, and Mayor Tim Joyce declared a local disaster for the second time in two months due to flooding.
The town of about 2,300 sits at the southeastern end of Prince William Sound, 52 air miles southeast of Valdez.
"We had high waters in August that covered our city airport, washed out roads, and ... this flood this time is probably a foot and a half deeper than that," Joyce said. "Our main river and lake system in town is called Eyak Lake and Eyak River, and it's up to 50 or 100-year flood levels."
The same areas devastated by the August floods -- and since repaired -- are washed out again, Joyce said. The entire 48.8 mile Copper River Highway that runs northeast from Cordova is closed, cutting Cordova off from its landfill and its hydropower plant.
The city airport's runway is awash with 3 feet of water, Joyce said. Homes near 6 mile by Eyak Lake are flooded.
"Those people are all on well water, so their wells have been contaminated," Joyce said. "Their septic tanks and fuel tanks have all flooded. We have diesel seeping out of underground fuel tanks. There's going to be some serious repairs done."
So far, displaced residents have found shelter with friends.
"A lot of people were just recovering from the other flood," Joyce said. "It's been kind of a double whammy for some of those folks."
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