Flood — Craig Coastal, Alaska

2014-01-14 · near Klawock, Craig Coastal, Alaska

Event narrative

It rained seventeen point thirty four inches over a thirty seven day period on Prince of Wales Island. There was just two days over that period of time that no rain fell for an average of just under one half of an inch of rain per day. The strong weather front that moved over the area on January 14 produced two point forty two inches and broke the daily rainfall record, the previous record was one point forty seven inches from 2007. All of the record rainfall that day transferred into runoff and produced a record stream flow stage along the Staney Creek of seventeen point fifty five feet which broke the previous record of seventeen point twenty from 1993. There was moderate flooding from the rainfall along local streams and rivers with some impacts to homes. The very moist antecedent soil conditions, high rain rates along with strong winds gusts of fifty mph triggered land/mudslides near steep terrain and logging areas. These slides knocked down power lines and blocked roads. One big mud slide in particular blocked the main highway between Hollis and Craig for a period of time.

Wider weather episode

A strong and very moist weather front with a tropical connection moved across Southeast Alaska January 13 and 14. An anomalous ridge of high pressure set up over the eastern Pacific and western North America during the first week of January. The blocking ridge was oriented in a way that it steered a large plume of high precipitable water values northward. The associated atmospheric river moved into the eastern Gulf of Alaska from the North Pacific and then over the panhandle on January 14. The front produced strong wind gusts over the area as the front moved over the area. The combination of the wind and very wet soil conditions from almost 35 straight days of rain produced mud-slides over Prince of Wales Island, Ketchikan and Sitka areas near steep terrain and/or clear cut areas.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (56.0874, -132.8343)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 492618. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.