Coastal Flood — Ern Norton Sound Nulato Hills, Alaska

2009-11-11 to 2009-11-12 · Ern Norton Sound Nulato Hills, Alaska

Wider weather episode

A 980 mb low near Saint Lawrence Island at 9 pm on the 10th deepened rapidly to 955 mb near Nome by 9 am on the 11th. The low then tracked across the Seward Peninsula and slowly weakened to 982 mb near Selawik by 3 pm on the 12th. Strong west winds in the wake of the low caused the water levels to rise 8 to 10 feet across the eastern Norton Sound. There were reports of minor flooding in low lying areas in Unalakleet during the evening of the 11th into the early morning hours on the 12th. Several homes on the south side of the village near the mouth of the Unalakleet River had 1 to 3 feet around them as water splashed over the gabions, but no water entered the homes as they were constructed on pilings. At the airport, there was some spray that hit buildings and there were logs on the west side of the runway that had to be cleared. The marine navigation beacon was broken and many of the river markers were gone in the wake of the storm. Along the Yukon Delta Coast, there was minor damage to fuel heads at the fuel tanks at Scammon Bay.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 196622. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.