10:54 AM
| Sunrise at | 7:36 AM | in direction | 88° | East |  |
| Sunset at | 7:49 PM | in direction | 271° | West |  |
As I left the KTNA Art Auction last Saturday, the rain was steady where it had been somewhat variable before. On Sunday, it rained steadily, sometimes heavily all day in Anchorage. When I talked with my Mom on Wednesday I asked if it was raining and she affirmed very positively that they had lots of rain in Anchorage. It's rained long enough, and steady enough in South Central that one region, that of the Upper Mat-Su valley has already flooded, and another is expected to peak tomorrow night, the Kenai River in Soldotna.
A state of emergency has been declared for the upper Mat-su Valley and central Kenai. I've mentioned that my son, Lorien, is the news producer for KTNA in Talkeetna. The last 24 hours have kept him and those helping him publish the news very, very busy. His news casts have been posted regularly on the web site, Alaska Public Radio, and this morning at 6 a.m. AKDT, NPR.
As of the last update, Kenai Pennisula is still flooding, but flooding in Talkeetna is receding, although you wouldn't guess that by the photo of the Talkeetna airport posted on the KTNA web site! Here's Lorien's latest report on APRN:
Talkeetna Fire Captain and Operations Chief Tim
Morgan stopped by the command center this morning on his way home to a
well-deserved sleep break to report that flood waters continued to
recede in both East Talkeetna and downtown Talkeetna. Hydrology levels
have dropped significantly on the Talkeetna River and Montana Creek; the
Susitna River water levels are slowly dropping.
This is not the first time the region has flooded. It crested at 16.9', or 6" less than the all time record. I have seen photos of floods in the midwest where entire houses were under water to their roofs, but in the low lands along Talkeetna, a crest of 16.9' means a few feet of water across a large area. The flooding is also not a product of flash flooding, such as caused the tragedy of the Big Thompson.
I think the fact that there is no flood surger, and the flooding is inconvenient, damaging, but not life threatening must be the key to why Talkeetna residents don't support the damming of the Susitna River. You would think, dealing with water in cabins, homes, and businesses that are all built right at ground level would encourage residents of the town to consider the dam favorably. But by and large, they don't.
Fascinating village, Talkeetna.
This is not the first time the region has flooded. It crested at 16.9', or 6" less than the all time record. I have seen photos of floods in the midwest where entire houses were under water to their roofs, but in the low lands along Talkeetna, a crest of 16.9' means a few feet of water across a large area. The flooding is also not a product of flash flooding, such as caused the tragedy of the Big Thompson.
I think the fact that there is no flood surger, and the flooding is inconvenient, damaging, but not life threatening must be the key to why Talkeetna residents don't support the damming of the Susitna River. You would think, dealing with water in cabins, homes, and businesses that are all built right at ground level would encourage residents of the town to consider the dam favorably. But by and large, they don't.
Fascinating village, Talkeetna.
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