Flood — Deltana and Tanana, Alaska

2011-05-02 to 2011-05-03 · near Salcha, Deltana and Tanana, Alaska

Wider weather episode

At approximately 0030AKST on the 2nd an ice jam caused the Tanana River to flow over it's banks in the Boondox area and overland into the Piledriver slough. Water was also flowing over parts of the Old Richardson Highway. Conditions deteriorated during the day and water levels rose several feet in areas near the Boondox and there were several homes surrounded by water. One house had some water in the garage and first floor of the structure. At least several homes in the area had water in their crawl spaces and basements. The water levels began to drop rapidly early on the morning of the 3rd as the ice jam released. Although the ice jam released, there continued to be some flooding in the area as residual ice in the Tanana River caused water to continue to flow overbank in spots. As the residual ice was flushed downriver during the afternoon of the 3rd the water levels dropped significantly and ended the flooding. Areas of standing water persisted for several days after the flooding ended as the ground remained frozen from the long northern Alaska winter.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (64.5430, -147.0271)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 288328. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.