Jan. 14—Expand
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Department of Transportation and Public Facilities bridge design engineers Benjamin Landes, left, and Nicholas Murray inspect a pedestrian bridge on Monday, Jan. 13, 2025 over the Seward Highway in South Anchorage. The roof of the structure became detached from the decking during a windstorm early Sunday morning, and the engineers were making sure that the remaining structure was safe to leave intact over the busy highway. (Loren Holmes / ADN)
A ferocious storm that pounded Southcentral Alaska with high winds and rain Sunday has left hundreds of customers still without power as utility crews grapple with unusually extensive damage.
Anchorage schools closed Monday due to what district officials described as weather-related issues related to power outages as well as slick parking lots and building maintenance needs. Schools reopened Tuesday.
In Mat-Su, Susitna Valley schools will remain closed for a second day Tuesday due to icy conditions, school district officials said.
Municipal officials on Monday evening opened the Spenard Recreation Center as a temporary location for people still without power “from Sunday’s extreme weather event” to get warm and access power.
It wasn’t immediately clear Tuesday morning how many people made use of the temporary shelter. The shelter, which provided hot drinks and snacks, was operated in partnership with the American Red Cross of Alaska and the Salvation Army, according to the municipal manager.
On Sunday, a powerful low-pressure system brought gusts of more than 100 mph reported in a few locations and hurricane-force winds even at some lower elevations around the Anchorage Bowl. A ridgeline weather station in Turnagain Pass recorded a peak reading of 129 mph, according to an update Monday from municipal officials.
Rain and melting snow from record warmth — the National Weather Service registered a new high of 44 for the date on Sunday — left water pooled in lower-lying areas and saturated the ground. Flooding was reported in parts of Mat-Su.
Power outages began Sunday morning and persisted through the night, with thousands without electricity by midday Monday as crews scrambled to address widespread issues that extended, for some, into Tuesday.
High winds prompted 13 planes to divert from Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport to Fairbanks on Sunday, according to airport spokesman Erik Peterson. Two were Alaska Airlines flights, one was operated by Delta Airlines, nine were cargo planes, and one was a military aircraft, Peterson said.
Along with a pedestrian bridge that partly collapsed onto the Seward Highway Sunday morning, minor to moderate damage was reported around the city.
Snapped trees and blown-down fence sections were visible along Northern Lights Boulevard and Muldoon Road. Siding and pieces of roof were sheared off several homes in the Rangeview Mobile Home Park off Muldoon.
Municipal officials said Monday they were monitoring conditions in mobile home parks in East Anchorage, given the strength of gusts there Sunday.
“We have had concerns raised about trailer courts where some of the structures were damaged by the wind,” Municipal Manager Becky Windt Pearson said in an interview Monday.
Windt Pearson said her office has not received any reports of injuries or extraordinary damage to private property and no municipal structures suffered major damage. Municipal offices were operating as usual.
Officials at the Anchorage Fire Department said they responded to more than 200 individual calls on Sunday, including reports of trees down or wind damage with at least one fire engine or other apparatus. The department fielded nearly 500 total incidents called into the department’s dispatch center, nearly twice as many as normal.
“We also had two structure fires yesterday and they were not related to the wind, however the wind contributed,” Assistant Chief Alex Boyd said on Monday.
At least three planes flipped over at Merrill Field, which recorded wind gusts as high as 66 mph on Sunday, according to airport manager Earl Malpass.
Concerns for the safety of people staying in homeless camps led the municipality to stand up a new emergency warming facility on Sunday.
The facility was filled to capacity Sunday night into Monday, according to Windt Pearson. The warming center, located on East Fourth Avenue, will also extend its hours Monday and Tuesday and open at 4 p.m.
The municipality was also waiving adult entrance fees Tuesday at the Spenard center as well as the Fairview Recreation Center. Both centers offer phone charging stations as well as areas for children to play inside.
[Part of pedestrian bridge collapses onto Seward Highway in South Anchorage]
The combination of high wind and soaked ground led to “significant damage” to power equipment on the ground, extending the time it’s taking to restore electricity, said Julie Hasquet, spokesperson for Chugach Electric Association.
“It isn’t just a matter of the crews show up and there’s a tree on the line … it’s all the way to the ground,” Hasquet said. “There’s broken poles, there’s broken cross arms, there’s broken wires.”
Crews responding to outages found not only multiple trees on some lines but objects like trampolines blown out of nearby yards, she said.
Chugach officials are recommending that residents without power Monday should be prepared to be out of power until Tuesday, or go stay with friends or in other accommodations if possible.
“Because we can’t tell you when the power is going to be back,” Hasquet said.
Chugach crews, as well as contractors, are prioritizing the largest outages, though one crew has been assigned to address smaller areas that have been without power the longest, she said.
Chugach Electric, with about 91,000 members, reported a peak of 17,500 without power at the height of the outage. By early Tuesday, that number was at about 1,00 members.
Matanuska Electric Association was reporting just under 150 members without power, mostly in Eagle River.
Anchorage schools are on track to reopen Tuesday and resume normal programming for the rest of the week, according to a message the Anchorage School District sent families on Monday afternoon.
The Richardson Highway to and from Valdez reopened Monday afternoon between miles 19 and 46 after closing due to inclement weather conditions, avalanche hazard, and continuing avalanche mitigation operations, according to the site. The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities reported that between Jan. 10 and 13 Thompson Pass received 108 inches of snow, or 9 feet.
In Anchorage, municipal officials said they are offering free disposal of woody debris at city wood lots starting Tuesday through the end of the month.
The low-pressure system that brought the wind and warmth moved off to the north Monday, according to the weather service.
There was a slight chance of snow for Anchorage and the Matanuska Valley on Monday evening, with little accumulation expected. Temperatures are expected to drop enough that any precipitation for the next few days in Southcentral will be in the form of snow.